


Cover Stories and Family Bonding

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Until 1x09, Multi, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 02:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 68,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10233869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: The team crash lands in 1986 and the Waverider is damaged nearly beyond repair. It's going to take time to get the ship running again, if that's even possible, so in the meantime the team needs a cover story for who they are and how they know each other. But how long will they be stranded before some lines between being teammates and being a family start to blur?





	1. Crash Landing

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a fanfic that I wrote and posted to fan fiction.net almost a year ago, It was the last story that I wrote before making an account here. I tried posting it here once but I was still new here and figuring the site out, so I decided to wait until I understood how posting here worked. Kind of forgot I was planning on that but someone recently asked me to post it here, so here it is! Anyway, because I've already finished this story and am just reposting it, updates will be fairly quick! Hope you guys like it!

It had been quite a few missions since 1960 where they discovered Chronos’ identity and he got away before they could knock him out. They hadn’t seen him since but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time, no pun intended, before he showed up again. Well now it was clear that he was ready to come after them again and this time he had help, help that came in the form of Vandal Savage.

“Two of our greatest enemies have now teamed up and are chasing us through the temporal zone!” Rip exclaimed as he did all that he could to dodge the attacks of the ship behind them, thanks to Vandal’s technology combining with Chronos’ their cloaking shield had already been disabled.

“I should’ve killed him when I had the chance, I get it!” Len shouted up to the Captain just before the entire ship shook violently with the impact of a powerful laser.

“Sir Chronos has damaged vital systems to the ship’s-” Gideon was cut off as another hit jolted the Waverider.

“Gideon?” Rip called but the AI didn’t answer, “Perfect,” he muttered under his breath before he began rapidly hitting at some controls. “Prepare yourselves!” He called back to the crew; they were about to crash.

The very harsh landing was met with a chorus of groans from everyone on the Waverider while they all experienced varying degrees of pain and time jumping side effects.

“Good, we’re still alive.” Rip finally said as he stood from his chair, albeit on wobbly legs to the point where he had to lean rather heavily on his chair.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Snart said, like many of the others he was doubled over in pain and blinking rapidly as he tried to restore his vision.

“Man this free falling through time stuff is getting old,” Jax complained just as the sound of Ray losing the contents of his stomach drew the attention of most of the team.

“Oh Ray,” Kendra cringed, looking away because the sight was going to be enough to take away whatever control she had of her own nausea.

“Sorry,” Ray said in a half aware voice.

“I was wondering how far we were going to have to jump before somebody got sick,” Sara said in an attempt at a joke but nobody really paid it any attention.

“Any ideas as to when exactly we are Gideon?” Rip finally asked but no reply ever came. “Perfect,” he muttered, recovering from his disorientation enough to push off his chair and head over to the main console of the Waverider.

As everyone gradually regained the proper use of their senses they noticed that all the lights in the Waverider had gone out and while the bridge was relatively unharmed a glance over at Rip’s office showed that the room was an utter wreck. Suddenly, the sound of Rip punching the main console brought everyone’s attention to him.

“They fried the entire system,” he muttered darkly and angrily, but just loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“What does that mean?” Stein of all people questioned, by now of course he knew how the functions of the ship work but saying that the system is fried can be a generally relative term in his book.

“It means that Gideon as well as every other function on the ship is currently non-operational and until we can fix it we are stuck in…” he trailed off, looking around as if something in the bridge would somehow be able to give him a clue as to when they had landed. But the only thing that could possibly do that was the shattered window, and outside of that all they could see was a seemingly never-ending field of half dead grass. “Wherever the hell we are,” he finally concluded.

“Only one way to answer that question,” Sara said as everyone finally got comfortable with their feet.

“Yes, except with the entire system non-operational the cloaking shield is also down. It’ll only be a matter of time before someone sees the ship,” he said but the look on his face said something else, there is another way. It’s something that he clearly doesn’t want to do, for whatever reason, but it’s something that could disguise the ship.

“So you can’t hide the ship at all?” Ray finally asked and the Captain let out a sigh.

“The emergency power reserve appears to have been damaged but there is still some power left in it. Nowhere near enough to get us moving but just enough to keep the cloak up for a few hours. If we use it then who knows how much more time it will take us to make repairs, meaning we could be stuck here for that much longer.” He explained, but it was obvious that he knew they don’t have much of a choice.

“By the looks of this ship we’re going to be stuck for awhile anyway, the less reason people have to ask questions the better.” Snart deadpanned and Rip nodded before he hit a few barely working controls and cloaked the ship.

“Ok good news; that should hold for about five hours. Bad news; that was the absolute last of the power.” He announced once it was done and the bridge became even darker, as if there had been some emergency light on that none of them noticed until now.

“More bad new, either we have to fix this thing fast or find a way to cover a spaceship in the next five hours.” Jax said and Rip placed a hand to his head as if he were fighting a headache, he probably was.

“Right,” he said as he thought, “Ok there has to be a town nearby but considering we’re in a field I’m assuming it isn’t a very big town meaning that a group of seven people no one knows will draw some attention from someone.” He said,

“Especially if we’re staying,” Sara said and the others all turned to look at her, “Guys the ship isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So unless someone is coming to rescue us, which I doubt, we’re going to be stuck here for awhile.” She continued, there were varying degrees of sighs and agreement in response to her blunt truth and Kendra couldn’t help but think back to 1958 when Sara was sold on the idea that no one was coming back for them after less than two minutes.

“Right and considering that is the case we’re going to need a cover story,” Rip announced, there was a beat of silence as everyone glanced around at each other in an attempt to think of something. This stopped when Rip turn to Ray and Kendra, who were standing close, Ray with his arms wrapped around his girlfriend. “Can you two pretend to be newly weds again?” He asked and they both nodded.

“Yeah,” Kendra replied, again there was silence as the others tried to figure out how to insert themselves into that story.

“So if Kendra and I are newly weds, what’s the story? We’re all some weirdly blended family?” Ray’s suggestion should’ve been absurd but as the others all considered it they realized that it was probably their most viable option.

“No way anyone is going to buy that all seven of us are related,” Snart finally said,

“Technically to be a blended family we don’t all have to be related, just everyone is related to someone.” Ray pointed out

“Doesn’t a blended family need to have kids?” Sara asked, knowing that no one on the team is young enough to pass as either Kendra or Ray’s child.

“Technically yes but I think what Doctor Palmer is getting at is some strange mix of in-laws living together which considering we appeared to have landed in the middle of nowhere I don’t think anyone will believe we’re researchers, as we would need something to research. So that’s probably our best bet,” Rip explained in agreement with the idea, “So we already have a married couple, who wants to be who?” He asked with a clap of his hands, determining that this is in fact the cover they’re going with.

“Jax can probably pass as my little brother,” Kendra offered, Jax just threw his head back at the wound to his pride, which only Stein seemed to notice.

“I’m not so sure that’s the best idea-”

“It’s fine Gray,” Jax cut off his partner, he was grateful that the old man was trying to help him but after the last time he ‘helped’ he really didn’t want to let him keep running his mouth. Besides it’s been obvious for a few weeks now that Kendra banished him to the friend zone, so he’s not all that surprised by the final seal of his fate. “So I’m Kendra’s brother, that works but no offence the rest of you don’t really look you’re related.” He continued, noticing how literally no one on their team looked anything alike. If they still had Rory he and Snart probably could’ve passed for brothers, but they don’t have Rory anymore.

“Actually,” Rip said as he looked Stein up and down, “Professor Stein can probably pass for being Sara’s father.” He continued; Sara looked to be about as excited by that as Jax was about being Kendra’s brother.

“Very well but that still doesn’t relate either of us to either Raymond or Kendra,” Stein said, his voice indicating that while he’d accept the cover he wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea of posing as Sara’s father.

“What if I was Sara’s brother?” Ray suggested but Sara shook her head, “Not that I never wanted a brother but you and I look nothing alike,” she pointed out but Rip appeared to be studying them, trying to think of a relation that they could in fact pull off.

“No but you could pass as cousins, and as for why Ray’s cousin and Uncle would be living with him we can say that it was his Uncle who raised him.” He finally said but Sara still wasn’t convinced.

“That doesn’t exactly answer why we all live together,” she pointed out,

“No matter what we come up with I don’t think that’s ever going to have a good answer,” Kendra said and Rip nodded.

“So where does this leave you and me, Rip?” Len finally asked, knowing that there weren’t very many ways for the two of them to fit into this cover without it becoming anymore suspicious than it already was. “I don’t think two more cousins is going to make much sense to anyone.” He continued as Rip thought, knowing that he was right.

“You Mr. Snart can simply be a friend of Ray’s who is staying with the family,” he finally said,

“Do I have to be Raymond’s friend?” Len asked, which earned him a rather offended look from Ray but he ignored it.

“No you can always pose as Sara’s boyfriend if you like, honestly that would be more believable and might work out better.” He suggested,

“No thanks,” Len and Sara chorused in rejection of the idea.

“Then, you’re Ray’s friend.” Rip told him and he still frowned at the idea but said nothing, contemplating whether or not posing as Raymond’s friend was truly better than posing as Canary’s boyfriend. “As for myself we can claim that I am Martin’s business partner. A struggling business is perfect reason for a family to move as well as would offer explanation as to why most of us live together in the first place,” he decided but Jax snorted.

“Just one problem, what business?” He asked but Len shook his head.

“Not a problem,” he insisted, “When I was a kid I never wanted people knowing my father was in prison, this was long before I figured out that all the adults knew anyway but that’s beside the point. Whenever someone asked me what my father did for a living I just shrugged and told them he worked with antiques, which was true considering he stole them.” He explained, in the end Rip only agreed to the cover because given the fact that they’re time travelers both he and Stein should be able to pull off the notion of having run such a business.

“Fine now if that’s all settled the cloaking shield is not going to last very long so let’s go and figure out where we’ve landed.” The Captain decided and so they all filed out of the ship.

 

* * *

Turns out they may as well have landed in the middle of nowhere. After walking down a long dirt road they found that they’d crashed in a field behind a two-story house, but the place looked abandoned.

“Good place to hide out,” Snart mused as they walked around the outside of the building.

“We tried hiding out at an abandoned place in the 50’s, doesn’t work that great in a small town. People notice and you get kicked out, we’re going to have to find a place to stay legally.” Sara informed him and much as he looked like he wanted to argue Rip nodded his agreement and called for them to continue on. 

The town they found themselves in was very small but it was large enough to give them clues as to when exactly they had landed. The roads were mostly paved and there were power lines running along the streets. There was also, much to the group’s delight, a Big Belly Burger. Outside of the restaurant was a newspaper dispenser, which revealed that they had crash-landed in a small town in New Hampshire on October 10th 1986.

“At least it’s not the fifties again,” Ray said with his usual bright smile as the seven of them sat in the restaurant eating lunch and trying to figure out their next move.

“No but it’s arguably more dangerous considering half of you were alive in 1986 and as for the other half your parents were.” Rip reminded them.

“Yeah but none of us are from the east coast, let alone would have any reason to wander into a town in New Hampshire that isn’t even on the map.” Sara pointed out and that at least made Rip feel a little better, that being said he was still unspeakably frustrated with this entire situation.

“I’ll go back to the Waverider and see what’s still working, hopefully the technology we used to acquire that house in 1958 wasn’t damaged too badly and maybe we can get into that house on the property where we crashed. Ray and Kendra, if you wouldn’t mind coming with me, I’m going to need the two of you in case we make it as far as a realtors office.” He said and the two of them nodded.

“Perhaps I should come too,” Stein suggested, causing everyone to turn and look at him. “The story is that all seven of us are going to be living there, it would only make sense that as many of us go as possible.” He defended himself,

“Alright fine, Martin and Jax come with us while Mr. Snart and Ms. Lance figure out how to disguise the Waverider once the shield goes down.” Rip amended,

“Wait what?” Sara demanded,

“Why are we in charge of hiding your broken spaceship?” Len inquired and Rip leveled a glare with him, telling him without words to keep his voice down.

“For one thing you two are probably the only two on this team who can keep a secret,” he started.

“Hey!” Ray exclaimed, obviously offended, but Kendra rolled her eyes at him.

“Ray during the two years we were gone you tried to surprise me with dinner more than once and you let it slip every single time.” She reminded him and somehow every one missed it when Jax rolled his eyes, that or they just didn’t comment.

“Secondly, you’re other option is to spend the day with the rest of us.” Rip continued,

“Or we could do none of the above and go knock off a bank,” Len suggested, causing Rip to huff in annoyance.

“If the Waverider is discovered-” He began to lecture but Len cut him off.

“Relax Captain, we’ll hide the spaceship.” He said and so the rest of that lunch passed in silence, each and every one of them knowing that however long they’re stuck here it’s going to be a very interesting period of time.


	2. How do you Hide a Spaceship?

“So how do you propose we hide a spaceship?” Len asked Sara as the two of them went walking through the small town, the rest of the team on their way back to the Waverider.

“Hmm, a really big tarp?” Sara suggested, it was unclear if she was serious or not. Len eventually decided that she was probably joking but at the same time she truly couldn’t come up with a better idea.

“There were some trees surrounding that field, maybe if we got some really sturdy chains and stole a really big truck.” He mused, of course he was pretty much joking as well but their options aren’t really looking all that realistic.

“Sorry to burst your bubble crook but we can’t steal all that much since we’re going to be sticking around, people will get suspicious.” She said and he sighed, knowing she was right.

“This is why I never stay in one place too long,” he said and she nodded but said nothing. “What about you?” He asked, the look on her face silently asking him to elaborate. “From the stories you’ve told you’ve been just about everywhere, can’t imagine you stay put for very long.”

“I tried once,” she told him, “Tried to leave the league and take a page out of Oliver’s book by becoming a vigilante but in the end I decided to go back. Wasn’t even gone five minutes before my dad had a medical emergency and I had to go racing back to Starling, I died before I could leave again.” She explained,

“Maybe it was a sign that you shouldn’t have gone back to killing,” he offered,

“I didn’t,” she told him and he looked curiously at her, waiting for her to elaborate further.

“Come on Snart, you know I had already quit the assassin gig before Rip recruited me.” She said, trying to avoid the story of her resurrection.

“True but I didn’t think it was your death that forced you to leave,” he said and suddenly, unexpectedly, she turned on her heel and forced him to a stop.

“Well it was, coming back from the dead will do that to you.” She said coldly before turning back around and continuing down the sidewalk, her pace more brisk than before.

 

* * *

 

Despite Rip’s decision that he would stay with the rest of the team Jax weaseled his way out of spending the day trying get into that house. They didn’t need him there; he’d just be standing in the background board out of his skull. Gray was surprisingly willing to let him go and wander the town on his own, but that’s probably only because he knows just how disappointed he is that Kendra offered to pass herself off as his big sister. Rip was a little harder to convince but not much, not once he pointed out that somebody should scope out the town and Snart and Sara are only going to do so much of that while they try and find a way to hide the Waverider. So he managed to get the Captain’s permission, even though that hardly counts for anything, to roam the small town and clear his head.

 He walked all around, making a mental list of all the key places they would probably need to visit sooner or later. That list included a grocery store, a hardware store, and a police station. Ok that last one he was hoping they’d never need to visit but Snart hasn’t completely given up his criminal ways so it’s always good to know where they’ll take him if he’s ever caught stealing something here, not that Snart would let himself get caught but still. He had been walking for a while and was considering heading back to the Waverider when he found himself passing a garage with a help wanted sign in the window, and he stopped. They were going to be stuck here for a little while, and that thing Rip has to fake financial records just barely managed to give them what they needed for the house before it literally burst into flames. So with that out of commission at least some of them were going to need to find jobs if they want to be able to stay in the house, assuming they can even get it, and pay for food. So he almost went in, and when he didn’t he knew that he would just be coming back here tomorrow, but he decided that it’s late and he should probably head back and see how the others made out. 

* * *

 

“You’re a master criminal and assassin, was this really the best you could come up with!?!?” Rip demanded; the group was currently standing out by the Waverider while Rip through a hissy fit over Len and Sara’s terrible solution to hiding the ship now that the cloak had gone down.

The sun was starting to set and frankly it had been a long day for everyone. Thankfully they had been able to put a down payment on the house and bartering down the price wasn’t that hard, apparently the place had been vacant for almost fifty years and the real estate office was just happy to finally sell it. So they were all set to start moving in during the morning. The cloak, thankfully, went down after the real estate agent left and so the others went out to the Waverider to check on Sara and Len’s progress with a solution to the giant freaking spaceship in the middle of the field. That was a move they were all regretting as Rip was drawing dangerously close to a full-blown rant about blowing their cover.

“In our defense you did ask us to hide 13,000 ton time machine on pretty short notice,” Len said,

“Besides this is just a temporary solution,” Sara stepped in,

“I hope so, because no one is going to believe THIS!” Rip exclaimed, exasperatedly pointing to the sign Len and Sara had placed in front of the Waverider, claiming that it was a model of Darth Vader’s spaceship that they were building to enter in some bogus contest.

“Relax Rip, we’re on the very edge of town, almost no one is going to see it.” Len assured the Englishmen who quite frankly looked as though he were going to explode at any minute from the frustration.

“Almost is still dangerous,” he seethed but Len just rolled his eyes and avoided pressing the issue any further, knowing that if there was any chance of Rip not blowing his top then it would only happened if he kept his mouth shut and gave him a minute to cool down. “Now then, we’ll sleep on the Waverider tonight and figure everything else out in the morning.”

 

* * *

 

Sleeping on the Waverider quickly turned out to not be so much of an option. Everyone’s rooms were pretty much destroyed in the crash; Stein’s bed had even been crushed by a piece of the ceiling.

“So we’re camping now?” Len asked when he made it outside with his pillow and blanket and found the others already spreading themselves out behind the spaceship.

“No choice; either we can’t get to our beds because there’s so much debris in the way, or something is deadly is hanging right above our heads.” Jax explained as he spread out his blanket.

“Or in my case there are knives permanently lodged in my bed,” Sara added,

“Am I the only one whose cold?” Kendra asked, wrapping her arms and her blanket around herself as she tried to keep warm.

“We’re in New Hampshire in the middle of October, it’s only going to get colder.” Ray told her whilst wrapping her in his arms and blanket, Jax and consequently Stein thanks to their psychic link, looked away in repulsion.

“Dr. Palmer is right, however with the heating systems on the ship down and it being made of cold metal we might actually be warmer out here.” Rip said as he tried to get comfortable on the not yet frozen ground.

“By how much? Because it’s only going to get colder during the night,” Jax pointed out and Sara couldn’t help but smirk.

“You two could always merge and set yourself on fire to keep warm,” she suggested to him and Stein jokingly, not that anyone looked to be amused by it.

“Actually a fire wouldn’t be the worst idea,” Kendra finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

So a little more than an hour later they had a fire going, although it mostly consisted of dead grass and therefor was more smoke than flame but it still worked.

“Some heroes we are,” Ray said as they all sat around their smoke pit.

“I’m no hero,” Snart objected

“You’re still here, helping take down Savage.” Ray reminded the ice villain, but before he could say anything Sara spoke up.

“We’re not taking down Savage anymore,” she murmured, everyone turned to her with incredulous glares.

“What?” Rip finally managed to ask, Sara’s eyes flicking up to meet his.

“Rip we’re stuck in 1986, and no offence but I don’t think you and Jax are going to be able to get the Waverider working.” She explained herself; everyone noticed her lack of the words “anytime soon.”

“Sara, we will get out of here. Just like we got out of 1958,” Ray assured her but she just rolled her eyes.

“The only reason we got out of 1960 was because someone was looking for us. But we’re all here, so unless Mick tracks us down and takes us to be executed by the Time Masters, we’re stuck.” She argued, enunciating the year in which they had actually been rescued. Len winced upon hearing the reminder that he’s the reason they’re in this mess to begin but he remained quiet.

“Sara we’re going to get the ship running again, it’s just going to take some time.” Jax assured her but she wouldn’t be convinced so easily.

“You say that,” she said to him, “But you don’t mean it,” she finished.

“Ms. Lance!” Rip hurriedly exclaimed before Jax could retaliate the argument.

“What?” Sara asked, but before Rip could say anything else Stein cut him off.

“I think that it might be in all of our best interest to put out the fire and go to sleep, it’s been a rather long day for everyone.” He suggested, normally the others would’ve opposed the idea of putting out the fire but their makeshift pit of semi decent sized rocks was far from being safe enough to keep it going while they slept.

 

* * *

 

“Ok first on the list, cleaning.” Rip announced when they all walked into the house early the next morning and were welcomed by a cloud of dust and all began coughing.

“Using what?” Len questioned,

“Out of every possible thing that could’ve survived the crash, most of the Waverider’s cleaning supplies were unharmed.” Rip replied; his voice and posture making it clear that he’s still on edge and thinking about what did and did not survive the crash is only making it worse, particularly because what did survive the crash is almost useless.

“Well it was, hmph hmph, worse yesterday.” Ray coughed in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn’t work but those who had seen the house yesterday nodded in agreement while Sara, Jax, and Len just shared a glance.

“Before we start cleaning I think we better get a handle on the sleeping arrangements,” Sara suggested, back on the Waverider they each had their own room. Granted these rooms were the size of a typical college dorm room but they were still their own.

Rip nodded in agreement to her statement, putting aside is annoyance with her from last night and deciding that it’s probably better to get that out of the way sooner rather than later. “We didn’t actually tour the upstairs yesterday-”

“Seriously?” Len drawled in disappointment, cutting Rip off.

“Well excuse me Mr. Snart, but by the time we got here the shield at the Waverider only had about half an hour left so I needed to get that woman off the property as soon as possible. Especially considering your ‘solution’.” The Captain continued, using air quotes around the word ‘solution’.

“Hey we told you that’s temporary, we didn’t have the time yesterday to go through with our actual disguise.” Sara said in defense and while Rip was partially curious as to what their true plan is he was also a little afraid of finding out, so he let the issue drop for the time being due to the fear that their plan mixed with his already elevated blood pressure could very well give him a heart attack.

“So supposedly this place has three bedrooms and there are seven of us, so there are going to be three people to one room and two to the others.” He said, getting back to the topic of sleeping arrangements.

“I hate to make things more difficult but I did sneak upstairs yesterday while you were talking to the real estate agent and one of those bedrooms is really more of a glorified closet.” Stein spoke up, knowing that the third bedroom was never going to fit two people.

“Does this place have an attic?” Jax questioned, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Yes, why?” Rip asked,

“Well it’s not like we have a lot of junk that needs to go up there, why don’t we just turn the place into a bedroom?” He suggested and the others exchanged glances but it was easily agreed that was the best plan.

“Ok so I guess the question is, who wants to share with who?” Rip asked, looking around at his team who were all looking around at each other, trying to decide who would be the least annoying to live with.

“Kendra and I already share a room on the Waverider so…” Ray kind of trailed off as he put an arm around Kendra’s waist and she took half a step closer to him.

“Right,” Rip nodded, looking at the remaining team members.

“Well I suppose it would only make sense that Jefferson and I-”

“No offense Gray but I spend enough time with you inside my head already, I don’t need to live in the same room as you.” Jax was quick to cut Stein off, and fortunately the older man didn’t seem very offended by his logic.

“You can bunk with me if you want kid,” Snart offered, knowing that Jax wouldn’t be too thrilled about sharing a room with Rip either.

“Then I’ll take the closet if Rip will bunk with Stein,” Sara negotiated. Stein seemed to accept the arrangement readily but Rip looked a little apprehensive about it.

“Come on Rip, don’t you think I’m a little too old be sharing a room with my dad?” She mocked upon sensing his uncertainty about the arrangement, Stein just rolled his eyes in the background.

“Fine,” He conceded, truthfully he’d imagine that he would probably get along best with Martin than any of the others as roommates.

 

* * *

 

One advantage of having bought a house that was simply abandoned by its previous owners (creepy as that might be) is that it already had furniture. The downside to that was that it had all been sitting in an airless house for almost fifty years and so there was this sour smell clinging to most of it. In an attempt to get rid of the smell Sara was quickly making her way around the house, fully opening every window she came across.

“Normally I’m not one to complain about the cold,” Len began to drawl when she made her way into the living room where he was currently sweeping, “But it’s freezing outside,”

“Nothing in this house has seen fresh air in almost fifty years, it smells and needs to air out.” Sara argued and although Len didn’t say anything that was when Kendra and Jax entered the room, apparently having overheard the conversation.

“Yeah but seriously, do you have to open every window?” Jax questioned as he ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to keep himself warm.

Apparently Rip isn’t the only one still on edge.

Sara paused where she stood, as if debating whether or not to slam the window shut, before she finally turned around with a look on her face that practically screamed she was trying to keep her temper at bay

“Fine,” she said harshly while crossing her arms, “I’ve got some money I’ll go to the store and get some stuff for lunch.” She said before marching briskly out of the room, not in the mood to deal with any of her teammates.

“What’s with her?” Jax questioned,

“Don’t know,” Len replied, he wouldn’t admit it but he was just a little curious as to why Sara’s temper seemed to have skyrocketed over opening the windows.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Ray asked as he came into the room, wrapping his arms around Kendra’s waist from behind. Jax took one look at those two and decided that suddenly he couldn’t take staying in this house for another minute either.

“Sara’s heading out to the store to pick up whatever she can with whatever money she has,” Len informed Ray as Jax started to leave.

“I’m going with her,” The younger man said over his shoulder.

“Oh can you get me-?” Ray’s questioned was cut off by the sound of the front door shutting harshly behind Jax.

“Guess that’s a no,” Len remarked with a smirk.

 

* * *

 

“What happened to your knee injury?” Sara asked as Jax sat in the passenger seat of their stolen car, something Snart had acquired yesterday despite her warnings that stealing a car in a small town is just asking for trouble. Then again she had helped him steal it, after they walked all the way to the next town, so she couldn’t really judge. She had gotten all the way to the end of the street when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw the youngest member of the team chasing after her at full speed.

“I needed to get away from that house,” Jax replied curtly and Sara nodded, knowing not to ask any questions and instead just to let him cool down.

“You and me both,” she replied but clearly Jax needed a distraction and didn’t get the same vibe from her that she got from him.

“Why?” He asked, when she only pressed her lips into a firm line he kept pressing. “Look I’m sorry we asked you not to open every window, but I don’t see how that made you mad.” He continued and this time Sara let out a sigh as they rolled up to a red light.

“It’s not that,” she said but that was it.

“Then what is it?” Jax questioned and he could tell by the look on her face that it was this whole situation. There was something about living in the house that had generated that quick end to her temper but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Nothing,” she replied, this time he had the sense not to press further.

 

* * *

“AH!!!” A shout rang through the house; Len and Stein were the first to reach the source, which turned out to be the kitchen, or more specifically Ray on fire in the kitchen.

Without a second thought Len set his gun to it’s least deadly setting and blasted Ray in order to put out the flames. By the time Kendra got there Len was just finishing and her boyfriend was standing in the kitchen sopping wet and shaking like drowned Chihuahua. Everyone stood there silently for a minute; Kendra with both hands over her mouth, Stein with his mouth agape, Len with a mix between an annoyed sneer and a questioning eyebrow, and Ray just looked plain defeated.

“There’s a problem with the oven,” he finally muttered, moving and pushing through the three standing in the doorway with every intention of going to find some dry clothes.

“That guy built a super suit,” Len finally broke the silence that had fallen over the three in the doorway before he also became the first one to move, heading over to take a look at the oven. “He figured out how to shrink the human body to the size of a house key, fly, and shoot energy beams from his hands. But he sets himself on fire trying to fix household appliance.” He said in disapproval as Kendra pulled out a seat from the table and sat down, Stein having already walked away.

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you admire him.” She teased with a playful smirk, Len looked away from the oven just long enough to raise an eyebrow at her before turning back to the problem at hand.

“Good thing you know me better,” he said and despite the fact that she laughed it died on her lips, which he heard. “Something on your mind?” He asked, hand going for one of the tools Ray had been trying to use.

“I don’t know,” Kendra replied, “I just spent two years of my life stranded and now I’m stranded again.” She said and Len sighed.

“All because of me,” He said and she just looked at him in confusion, which despite the fact that he wasn’t looking he could feel. “If I had just iced Mick like I said not only would we not be here, but you never would’ve gotten stuck in 1958 and to top it all off your son would still be alive.” He further explained, a part of him knew that he probably shouldn’t be reminding a demigoddess that he’s the cause of some pretty awful things that have happened to her recently but he did so anyway.

“Snart, none of that was your fault.” She told him, finally prompting him to turn and look at her as she rose from her seat. “I know you and Rory were a team but at the end of the day he was responsible for his own actions, and he did all of that, not you.” She assured him before leaving the room, leaving him there to consider her words.


	3. Of Mice and Mistakes

“Nothing that needs to be refrigerated, I doubt the one at the house works.” Sara said to Jax as she grabbed a shopping cart and they headed into the store.

The supermarket wasn’t that big but it was big enough that Sara was sure they would be able to get everything they needed without stopping somewhere else. They picked up toilet paper and paper towels, some juice, they got a thing of coffee and Sara prayed they had a coffee pot back at the house, and they got some pancake mix.

“We can’t get milk,” Sara reminded Jax as he tossed a box of cereal into the cart.

“I’ll eat it dry,” he replied with a shrug,

“Ok,” she replied, turning the cart around, “Let’s just get some bread, peanut butter, and jelly then we should be good.” She said,

“Peanut butter and jelly for lunch?” Jax asked and Sara nodded,

“Yup, we’re also going to need some plastic utensils, cups, and plates, plus I don’t know what we’re doing for supper.” She listed and Jax wanted to say that considering the amount of time it’s going to take him and Rip to fix the Waverider they might want to get some real utensils and stuff but he decided against it, figuring they might be able to raid the ship for that stuff.

“Let’s just order a pizza for supper, that was a thing in 1986 right?” The younger man questioned and Sara couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes Jax, although we don’t have a working phone at the house.” She replied, stopping at a display with jars of both peanut butter and jelly.

“Then we’ll go out for pizza, and I don’t know what was around in the 80’s. I wasn’t born yet.” He defended,

“I was born in ‘87, so technically you don’t have an excuse.” She argued and Jax rolled his eyes. They continued around the store for a little while longer, getting the last of what they needed and making small talk, before they finally approached the register.

“Are you kids new in town?” The cahier asked as she rang them up. She was an older lady, probably around Stein’s age, with graying brown hair and glasses. It was clear by her observation that she knew everyone in this town.

“Yeah, I’m Jax and this is Sara my…” Jax trailed off as he went through the cover story in his head and tried to figure out the term for what he and Sara are to each other.

“Cousin,” Sara supplied, “Or technically cousin in law but nobody really says that, we just moved here with the rest of our family.” She continued and the woman nodded as she bagged up their groceries.

“Well honey don’t worry about explaining how you’re related; town’s like this everyone’s related to someone, even if they aren’t. We’ve got cousins that call themselves brothers, kids who call their neighbors aunt, it’s a very familial town.” She said, her voice was a little too nasally for Sara’s liking but she was sweet nonetheless, and knowing that their cover story probably wouldn’t be questioned was a huge relief.

 The two of them left the store each with a grocery bag in their arms, although the fact that Sara had paid for the supplies mostly with what was left in her wallet and then the last few items with a few crumpled bills she’d had in her pocket reminded Jax what he needed to do today.

“Hey, think we can make a pit stop?” He asked as they climbed into the car and started it up.

“Sure if you want to stop somewhere near a gas station, we’re running pretty low.” She commented and Jax grinned.

“Funny you should say that.”

 

* * *

 

“Well, it could be worse.” Ray said as he and Kendra made their way up the steps of the attic, coughing even more than they had upon entering the house to begin with.

“Yeah,” Kendra half-heartedly agreed as she tried to duck out of the way of all the cobwebs hanging down from the ceiling.

The further up the stairs they climbed the quicker they realized that the attic was actually colder than the rest of the house. The two of them had volunteered to take the attic as their bedroom, although now they were starting to regret it. They hadn’t even made it to the top of the stairs yet and already the room looked to be worse than any of the actual bedrooms.

“AH!” Kendra squealed when they did in fact reach the top, practically jumping Ray and almost sending them both tumbling back down the stairs as she did.

“What? What?” Ray asked in alarm, holding Kendra’s squirming form as protectively as he could when he had to no idea what had sent her screaming.

Finally, he noticed the rather large rat scurrying across the floor, trying to get away from the loud humans that had clearly intruded on it’s hideout.

“That?” Ray asked just as the creature disappeared into the shadows of the room, Kendra didn’t answer but Ray still chuckled because he knew the rat was in fact what had her so scared. “You fight an immortal psychopath on a daily basis, but you’re afraid of a little mouse?” He teased,

“That was not a little mouse!” Kendra defended,

“Don’t hawks eat mice?” Ray asked and Kendra rolled her eyes whilst finally detaching herself from him.

“Not this one,” she assured and he chuckled.

“Come on, let’s see what we can do with this place.” He encouraged, walking further into the room to explore their space.

 

* * *

 

“You don’t have to come with me,” Jax said as he and Sara got out of the car at the mechanics shop.

“Actually I do,” Sara protested, “I need to get gas while you’re talking.” She reminded him and he nodded, at least she wasn’t going to embarrass him like Stein would.

The two of them walked through the open door of the shop to find that it looked empty, until finally Sara pointed to a pair of legs dressed in a mechanic’s dirty jumpsuit sticking out from under a car.

“Um, excuse me sir,” Jax began, trying to sound as professional as possible.

“Nope,” an amused voice laughed with a grunt as the mechanic rolled out from underneath the car. Jax’s eyes went wide while Sara just stifled a laugh behind him, fully aware of his error in saying “sir” when the person who slid out ended up being a grease coated girl. “Sir’s not here, stepped out for an hour.” She explained with a smile as she got to her feet and wiped her hands off with the rag in her pocket. “How can I help you?” She asked; she seemed as amused by Jax’s error as Sara.

“I’m just here for five dollars worth of gas.” The blonde said as she handed the girl the last of the money she had, a few crumpled up one-dollar bills.

The girl nodded and accepted the money, making her way behind the counter to authorize the pump outside while Sara headed back to the car.

“And you?” The girl questioned Jax when he didn’t leave with Sara.

Instead he was still standing there awkwardly, trying to work up the nerve to still ask for a job after his blunder.

“Um… I saw the help wanted sign…” He kind of trailed off at the end and the girl’s smiling face became slightly more serious.

“Yeah, that’s not my call. Like I said my boss stepped out for a little while, do you think you can come back a little later?” She asked and Jax nodded eagerly, amazed she hadn’t told him to get lost.

“Yeah, yeah no problem. Listen, I’m SO sorry about calling you sir-” she cut him off with a laugh, an honest laugh.

“Don’t worry about it, I mean you see a pair of legs and men’s work boots, I probably would’ve said the same thing.” She assured him and now it was his turn to smile, albeit with relief.

“I’m Jax,” He introduced himself, holding out a hand to her.

“Strange coincidence,” she murmured, “I’m Jackie, and I’d shake your hand but…” She held up her grime-covered hands to show that they were filthy.

“Hey, part of the job right?” Jax asked and she shook his hand with an approving smile.

 “I like her,” Sara mocked when Jax returned to the car.

“Just drive,” he groaned, despite having been forgiven for his mistake Sara’s mocking was still very effective.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile Kendra and Ray weren’t the only ones having difficulties moving into their new bedroom. On the second floor, after slamming the windows shut because it’s still far too cold, Rip and Stein were finding an abundance of dead bugs in just about every semi dark corner that they came across.

“This is humiliating,” Rip finally grumbled, dumping the contents of his dustpan into the plastic bag they were using for trash. “I lost all credibility with the Time Masters, an organization that I worked my entire life to be part of, to stop Vandal Savage and now I’m stuck in 1986.” He complained,

“Though I understand that the 1980’s must feel like the Stone Age to a man from the 22nd century, it really isn’t that bad.” Stein said in an attempt to be reassuring.

“Professor I have visited the actual Stone Age, though I was never stranded there.” Rip continued; he was far past the point of being annoyed.

“Fascinating!” The Professor exclaimed, clearly impressed by the idea of traveling to the Stone Age and missing the overall point as usual.

“Yes Professor! Fascinating! We are all stranded in 1986 with barely a 5% chance at getting home, never mind stopping Savage’s rise to power and saving the world!” He suddenly found himself exploding, all of his anger and frustration coming out in one burst. Once that was said Stein did nothing but stare at him, watching as his words sank in and he slowly started to calm down now that they had been spoken aloud. “Sara’s right,” he finally said, “We’re stuck here.”

“For now,” Stein said, prompting Rip to turn and look him in the eyes. “Miss Lance has lived the better part of her adult life in survival mode. What between being lost at see, finding herself on that island, the league of assassins, and becoming a vigilante. Not to mention being murdered by her friend only to be resurrected by her sister.” He walked closer to Rip as he spoke, a serious look in his eyes. “The only reason she doesn’t believe we can make it out of here, is because she is still learning how to hope for such a thing.” He explained but Rip only sighed.

“That doesn’t make her wrong,” He said and to his surprise Stein actually looked to be hurt by the notion.

“Do you truly believe that we’re never getting out of here?” He questioned.

To be honest, no. No Rip doesn’t believe that they’re stuck where they are indefinitely. He does believe that the Waverider can be repaired but he also believes that it’s going to take some time, meaning they are going to be stuck here for a while. So his fears aren’t so much that they can’t it’s that they won’t. He’s afraid that time drift will take its toll on all of them since they really have choice but to intergrade themselves into this place, and just like Sara did in 1958 they might have a hard time leaving.

 

* * *

 

After a long day of cleaning that still wasn’t really done and probably wouldn’t be until this time tomorrow, the team voted in favor of Jax’s idea to go out for pizza. They couldn’t all fit in the car that Sara and Len had stolen so they walked, which wasn’t so bad in the cool October air but would probably present an issue as the weeks went on and the weather grew colder. But they had more important matters than the weather to worry about at the moment, matters like what to get for pizza toppings.

Sara and Len were easy enough; they aren’t picky and will eat just about anything. Kendra, although she was trying to convince the others to order pineapple on the pizza, had agreed that she would pick off anything she didn’t like. The larger battle was between Rip, Stein, Jax, and Ray. Rip and Ray were fighting tooth and nail for the mushrooms that no one else wanted while the two halves of Firestorm were arguing over whether or not to get peperoni or sausage.

“Jefferson it does not matter if you pick it off, you can still taste the peperoni.” Stein insisted

“Besides, it takes all the cheese with it,” Ray said in Stein’s defense, earning a glare from Jax.

I thought you wanted peperoni?” He asked but Ray shrugged.

“A this point I don’t care as long as we get mushrooms,” he said,

“We’re not getting mushrooms,” Sara, Len, Jax, and Stein chorused.

“I thought you two didn’t care?” Rip asked incredulously to the two who had said they would be ok with anything.

“What kind of a person orders mushrooms on a pizza?” Len asked in rebuttal, and it was barely another minute before the waitress returned to the indecisive table.

“Are you guys all set?” She asked and before Rip could tell her that they would need another minute Sara spoke up.

“Yeah, we’re going to get a Hawaiian pizza, but instead of ham do you think we could do half pepperoni, half sausage?” She asked politely and the waitress nodded.

“No problem,” she assured before walking off after Sara thanked her, leaving the group at the table finally quiet and all but Ray and Rip satisfied with Sara’s compromise.

“Like you would’ve really come to an agreement?” The blonde finally questioned Rip who abruptly wiped the annoyed look off his face, knowing that she was right.

“So then, how was everyone’s day?” The Captain said, trying awkwardly to start a conversation.

“Peachy,” Len said, sarcastic venom coating his voice, “the assassin bailed so now we have to wait until tomorrow to hide the ship.”

“Which reminds me,” Sara cut in as she took a sip of her soda, “Kendra, we’re going to need your help with that.” She said and although Kendra looked a little surprised by this she nodded in agreement.

“What exactly IS your plan for that?” Rip asked, although he still wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to know.

“You don’t want to know,” Len confirmed, as if reading his mind. That only made him more nervous.

“Trust him on that, if we tell you your head will probably explode.” Sara said; that did NOTHING to ease Rip’s fearful mind, if anything it only made it worse.

“Ok, now I’m scared.” Kendra said but Len smirked,

“Relax birdie, we only need you because of some stuff you fixed on the ship while we were off dealing with the criminals of 2046.” He explained and that seemed to put Kendra at ease, albeit only a little.

“Hey, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about a time machine in the middle of a crowded restaurant.” Ray suggested quietly and the others nodded their silent agreements.  
“So what else needs to be done at the house?” Sara asked, she and Jax had returned from their errands just in time to call everyone for lunch and afterwards they only had enough time to work on cleaning their bedrooms.

“Well, the plumbing could use some work-”

“I’m going to take a look at that tomorrow,” Len cut Rip off, “In the meantime we’re all skipping the showers again.” He continued,

“Well you better fix the plumbing soon because after a few more day we’re all going to start to smell.” Kendra said, taking a sip of her water.

“It’ll get done tomorrow, in the meantime if anyone wants to help me you’re more than welcome.” He invited, to tell the truth he’d actually rather not have anyone else messing with the wiring or plumbing of the house. He knows how to do it, and even if someone else did he had already volunteered, he didn’t need an extra set of hands getting in his way. “Not you Raymond,” He continued when the man sitting across from him opened his mouth. “You lost your privileges after setting yourself on fire.”

“You set yourself on fire?!” Jax demanded,

“Yes,” Ray admitted, a heavy blush of embarrassment spreading quickly across his face. “But only because of the faulty wiring in the oven!”

“Which is now fixed, you’re welcome.” Len said and Ray rolled his eyes.

“So in other news, Jax got a job.” Sara informed the group.

“What?” Rip snapped,

“Dude!” Jax exclaimed, glaring at Sara. He wasn’t really sure how the others were going to react to his news but he had known that Rip would be less than thrilled with it and so for that reason he had wanted to break it to them carefully, not have Sara blurt it out.

“That’s great!” Ok, at least Kendra seemed happy with the development.

“I agree, congratulations Jefferson.” Stein praised, settling some relief in Jax’s chest now that he could see Rip was the only one annoyed with this, and he could live with that. “May I ask what you are doing?” Gray continued.

“Just working at a garage in town, it’s not much but it’s something.” He told them and Ray smiled that smile he gets when he’s getting an idea.

“Good, and smart thinking.” He praised, “At least some if not all of us are going to need to find a job while we’re here, I’ll go out in the morning and some check things out.” He said and although Jax saw Len rolling his eyes he kept quiet.

“Me too,” Kendra agreed

“You can go out the day after tomorrow, Len and I still need your help.” Sara reminded the other girl who nodded, remembering that she was being recruited to help fix the Waverider tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so at the end of the last chapter I put a note saying this was canon up until "Night of the Hawk." Well it's actually canon through "Left Behind" just with the idea that Mick wasn't captured at the end. But Sara, Kendra, and Ray have all lived in the 50's for two years and the team knows that Mick is Chronos, sorry for any confusion!


	4. Good Plan, Poor Execution

“Has anyone seen Kendra?” Ray questioned when he came down from the attic, Kendra had left him up there over an hour ago and he had been waiting for her to come back so he could ask where she wanted to put their bed, which he has to go find one at a flea market or something at some point today.

“Don’t you remember?” Stein questioned, “She’s out at the Waverider with Sara and Leonard,” He continued and Ray’s eyes widened while his eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline.

“They’re doing that now?” He asked, he had made a mental note last night to go out to the Waverider in the morning and grab the ring from under his mattress, knowing that Kendra would probably end up in their room and who knows where that thing ended up after the crash.

“Yes, I believe so.” Stein answered with a nod of his head, Ray only responded by shoving his way past the older man and bolting down the stairs, out the front door, and across the field outside of the house.

 

* * *

 

“Couldn’t you have done this yesterday Raymond?” Len demanded, about five minutes ago Ray had come sprinting onto the Waverider as if he had a swarm of killer wasps on his tail and after hurriedly asking Kendra if she had been inside their room yet, to which she replied no, he went and threw their mattress off the bed before continuing to ransack the rest of the room.

“We were cleaning yesterday,” Ray defended, not once stopping from tossing various debris and belongings to the side.

“Ray, whatever it is that you’re looking for I’m sure we’ll find it while we’re out here.” Kendra said, coming to join Len in the doorway.

“No!” Ray nearly snapped, making Kendra jump in surprise and Len’s eyebrow to arch. “No, I should be able to find it.” He said this one a little more calmly.

“Well hurry up, or else we’re going to take the floor out from under you.” Len threatened and this time Ray did look up, but not at Len. He looked at Kendra or an explanation.

“We’re taking apart the Waverider so we can move it into the forest,” she explained and if the look Ray gave Stein was surprised then the one that he gave Kendra was completely shocked.

“What?” He finally asked, getting shakily to his feet. “You can’t do that, do you have any idea how much longer we’re going to be stuck here if you do?” He questioned, he almost tried to tell himself that they’re joking but he couldn’t. Aside from their serious faces this also explained why they needed Kendra; she had been a shipyard welder in a past life. She had helped build a ship, so she knows how to successfully take one apart.

“We’re already stuck here,” Sara reminded him, joining the party.

“So unless you have a better idea Raymond-” Snart began to drawl, but Ray cut him off.

“I do,” He spoke quickly, impulsively, so no he doesn’t actually have a better idea. But now his three teammates were watching him closely, so he had to come up with something. “We can’t fly,” he admitted, “We can’t cloak, and we can’t travel through time. But there has to be something remotely close to fuel left in the engine, and I know Sara can hotwire a car-”

“This isn’t a car Ray, it’s a spaceship.” The blonde interrupted his pitch.

“Still, the beginning of the forest is what, forty feet away?” He estimated, “I’m sure we can scrounge enough power to launch this thing that far.” He continued and the other three exchanged skeptical glances.

It was easy to tell that Kendra was all in favor of her boyfriend’s idea, despite how far fetched it might seem. Sara and Len engaged for a moment or two longer in a silent discussion that used only their eyes as words but eventually Len relented with a sigh.

“Fine, you and Canary see if that’ll work, I’ll go fix the plumbing.” He agreed before leaving the three where they stood.

 

* * *

 

“So uh, how did you get into working in a garage?” Jax questioned Jackie after their boss, an older man named Ben, had given him the standard first day on the job intro speech and the shop was pretty quiet.

“Bet you wouldn’t ask that question to a boy,” Jackie muttered but upon seeing how embarrassed Jax looked at her response she gave him a smile. “I’m just teasing, sorry I won’t bring it up again.” She promised,

“Look I didn’t mean to-”

“Jax, it’s fine,” she cut off, “Seriously don’t worry about it, I’m just giving you a hard time.” She said with a hint of a teasing smile. “I used to help my dad fix his truck all the time, him and Ben are friends and so when I got old enough Ben hired me here.” She explained, “What about you?” She asked and briefly Jax wondered if he should come up with a lie or tell the truth, in the end he decided that there’s nothing in that story that sounds suspicious so long as he made a few little tweaks to go with the cover story.

“I couldn’t afford to go to college, and growing up I learned pretty quick how to fix things; my mom and sister are pretty good at breaking stuff.” He joked but there is some truth to it, his mom does have a tendency to be a bit of a klutz.

“So that girl you came in with yesterday was your sister?” Jackie asked, knowing that the blonde woman Jax had been with was way too young to be his mother.

But Jax laughed at the question, “Yeah cause we look so much alike,” he joked, “You should know better than to assume things.” Jackie laughed at his teasing of her mistake, making them even for his mistake yesterday and her teasing for it.

“Fair point,” she agreed.

“Nah she’s my cousin, well sort of. I live with my sister and she just got married, her husband,” he still hates referring to Ray as Kendra’s husband and he tried not to grimace, “Had been living with his cousin and his Uncle, you see his Uncle raised him so he’s more like his dad. Long story short when they got married and decided to move out here we all came with them, and for whatever reason so did one his friends and his Uncle’s business partner.” He explained, now he was really hoping that the cashier from the grocery store the other day was telling the truth when she said that their relations wouldn’t sound completely made up, because they sure did to him.

“Cool,” Jackie said with a nod of her head as she tried to follow the story.

“I know it’s a little weird-”

“Dude, all families are weird.” She interrupted him and he chuckled,

“Not like mine,” he promised.

 

* * *

 

“So what are the chances Raymond’s plan will work?” Len called up to Sara,

“Don’t know,” Sara called down, “The controls were beyond any hope of hotwiring but he thinks he can repair them enough to get them to that point.” She continued; Len was about to say something else when Rip approached the two of them.

“Do you two enjoy coming up with the worst possible solutions to problems?” He demanded, an hour ago he was heading out to help Ray with the ship and Stein decided that they should start a fire in the fireplace to keep the house warm, however the chimney was filthy and starting a fire could’ve been deadly. Sara volunteered to clean the chimney, because apparently the cold was finally starting to bother her, and out of all the possible sights that could’ve met Rip when he reentered the house he did not expect to see Leonard Snart standing in the fireplace, most of his body visible, with Sara standing on his shoulders to reach higher up.

“Not my fault she can barely reach the opening,” Len excused, he then groaned slightly when the pressure of Sara’s heel pressed purposely harder into his neck. “Your bathroom is working again by the way, you’re welcome.” He continued,

“Thank you,” Rip said before sighing in exasperation and realizing that trying to tell these two all the better ways there are to clean a chimney would be pointless, they clearly have their own way of doing things. “Jax will be getting back from his job shortly, we’re all going to head down to the local shops for things such as blankets and furniture at the flea market, are you two interested?” He offered,

“Sure,” Len replied in a somewhat strained voice, the weight of Sara on his shoulders starting to become a bit too much.

“Yeah, I need some blankets.” Sara agreed and with a nod Rip headed off, leaving them there.

“Alright assassin, time to come down.” Len called up, knowing that they would both need to wash up a little before leaving, her especially.

“Ok,” she replied, dropping her cleaning materials carefully so that they didn’t hit Len on the way down. For a moment she just stood there, feeling the bricks all around her and somehow only now realizing the problem here. “How are we going to do this?” She called down and she both heard and felt him sigh.

“I’ve got an idea,” he told her; she knew what he was thinking of course, especially considering the hint of their usual flirtation in his voice.

“Just make sure you watch what you’re doing,” she warned,

“I intend to,” he assured her and at that she couldn’t help but smirk. “You ready assassin?” He asked as she braced her hands against the wall of the chimney.

“Ready,” she confirmed.

 Len tilted his head back, looking up to make sure he could see her. Much as he would normally enjoy this view of Sara he didn’t have time to at the moment, not when one wrong move could have painful consequences for them both. He ran his hands slowly up her legs, but out of caution and not pleasure. The highest he could reach was her thighs, just above her knees, so that’s where he settled his grip and allowed her to brace as much weight onto his hands as she could.

Sensing the change his grip Sara took the cue and slowly began to lower herself down. With him holding her upper legs she managed to walk her hands down the wall of the chimney, letting his hands slide further up her until her legs were secure around his torso and he had one hand firmly gripping her ass with the other gently guiding her back as she walked herself down.

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” She asked as she climbed down him.

“A little bit,” he admitted just before she dropped her hands from the wall, gripping them tightly around his shoulders as his grip on her also tightened in order to keep her up.

She clung to him for minute, just to ensure that he did in fact have her, before she detached herself from him and place her feet firmly on the ground.

“You look like Cinderella before the fairy godmother found her,” Len mused dryly as Sara stood before him, covered in soot and ash from the chimney.

“Speak for yourself,” she quipped in response, a fair amount of soot had also dirtied his clothes, especially after she had been pressed so tightly against him.

“Touché, Canary.” He remarked as he stepped out of the fireplace and moved past her in order to go put on some clean clothes.

 

* * *

 

“Ray what are you looking for?” Kendra questioned for the umpteenth time today. Ever since Ray had come barreling onto the ship earlier in the morning he had all but torn the place apart, ironic considering that is exactly what he stopped her, Len, and Sara from doing, and he wouldn’t tell her why. He only ever stopped long enough to help her with the repairs of the control panel that were finally coming close to being in good enough shape to launch the Waverider into the woods.

“Nothing,” Same reply he’d been giving all day.

“Well if it’s nothing then why don’t you just give it up and come shopping with us?” She demanded to know, Ray barely glanced at her over his shoulder.

“That’s ok, you go without me, I’m just going to finish up here.” He said and although Kendra was very hesitant and very suspicious she did in fact turn around.

“Ok,” she said quietly as she walked off the Waverider.

 

* * *

 

Admittedly Ray felt a little bad that he didn’t go shopping with the others, but Kendra knows what she and him need and has a better eye than he does for decoration. Besides, he needs to find that stupid ring before she does. He’s scoured the entire ship all day but he can’t find it anywhere. His and Kendra’s room is probably in worse shape now than it was just after the crash, and that’s saying something. At this point he’s starting to think that Kendra actually did find it and just hasn’t said anything, or worse, Snart found it and is waiting for the right time to use it as blackmail. The amount of times he’s considered questioning the crook today is probably borderline psychotic, but he’s getting desperate. The only reason he hasn’t interrogated Leonard yet is because for one thing he wouldn’t tell him the truth if he did find and steal the ring. For another thing, what if he didn’t find it? Ray can’t risk revealing this secret, especially not to Leonard Snart. No he just needs to find that ri-

Something that he saw out of the corner of his eye stopped Ray’s thoughts in their tracks. He had just thrown a pair of pants aside and as he looked over his shoulder while doing so he could’ve sworn he’d seen a small, gold colored circle in his peripheral vision. He turned back slowly, as if the object would disappear if he were too hopeful. But it was there.

There, lying discarded on some piece of floor he had somehow missed over the course of the day, was the ring he had planned to give Kendra back in 1960. Letting out a cheer of both relief and triumph Ray scrambled across the room and grabbed it, allowing a huge smile to spread across his face as pure joy coursed through his veins and he tucked the ring safely into his pocket.

 

* * *

 

“This is a bad idea,” Rip murmured from where he and most of the others were standing out in the field, a safe distance away from the Waverider.

“You’ve been saying that a lot lately,” Jax commented, it was just getting to be sunset, they had returned from shopping roughly an hour ago. While they were gone Ray had finished with the wiring on the control panel and so now Sara was on board the ship with him, hotwiring it so that he could launch it into the woods.

 

The reason Ray of all people is piloting the ship for this is quite simple really; it’s very likely that whoever’s driving is going to get hurt and he has a very durable super suit.

“Stand back!” Sara came yelling as she ran out of the ship, the boarding ramp wasn’t going to close behind her; hell it technically wasn’t even open, one hinge had broken when they landed and so it’s stuck in a halfway position.

 

Upon hearing her warning the others stepped back a few feet, they were already a fair distance away. Just as she made it to them the Waverider’s engine made a noise, not the roaring sound you would want to hear from a spaceship’s engine but instead more of a high pitched whining. Everyone blocked their ears and partially looked away, protecting themselves from the smoke that was yet to come, and they all knew it would come.

A minute that seemed like an eternity later the Waverider shot forward without much of a warning, leaving behind a trail of burning grass in it’s wake. With the ship gone from sight Len became the first to step forward and he began icing the flames.

“Raymond needs to stop setting things on fire,” He shouted back to the others as they began to step forward. “Mick may be gone but he wouldn’t take kindly to someone stealing his job,” he continued, Rip rolled his eyes and most of the others looked like they were trying to think of something to say, with Kendra just staring at the edge of the forest.

 

She drew closer to it than any of the others, watching for her boyfriend, needing to know he had made it out of the crash ok. Her prayers were answered when he came walking out of the trees, suit looking pretty banged up but aside from that unharmed.

“Told you we didn’t have to take it apart,” he smirked as Kendra ran up and hugged him.

“You were going to do what?” Rip suddenly demanded, turning to Sara and Leonard, the latter of whom had just finished putting out the last of the flames. He had heard that their original plan could’ve ended up stranding them longer and he had stopped Ray there.

“In our defense, only what was necessary in order to tow it with a really sturdy chain.” Len said, not that it was much of a defense.

“So I guess the answer is yes, we do enjoy coming up with the worst possible solutions.” Sara smirked, answering Rip’s question from earlier.

“At least we can get rid of that sign now, Jackie started asking me earlier if I knew the deadline for that contest.” Jax said,

“Whose Jackie?” Kendra asked and Sara smiled a teasing smile, which of course filled Jax with dread.

“A girl he works with,” she taunted and while Kendra’s smile grew to match Sara’s, Stein’s face seemed to pale.

“Jefferson-”

“Chill out Gray,” He said, “She’s just a girl that I work with; Sara’s just being a pain.” He said and upon hearing that Sara let out a laugh.

“Guilty,” she admitted, “I’m getting a lot of enjoyment out of the fact that he called her ‘sir’,” she continued to mock.

“Dude!” Jax exclaimed, turning on her with a sudden but not unjustified annoyance, much like last night at the restaurant.

“Sounds like a pretty lady,” Len mused, trying to start something that Jax had no intentions of allowing to continue.

“Can we change the conversation please?” He begged,

“Yes,” Rip agreed, having heard enough of this as well. “Why don’t we get inside and start dinner?” He suggested, the team didn’t need any more prompting than the mention of food to get them to start walking towards the house.

“Let me guess, same as lunch?” Len asked, knowing that supper was going to be the same peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that they had been eating the past two days. “I fixed that refrigerator for a reason you know,” he continued,

“I’ll go to the store tomorrow,” Kendra promised.

“Good,” Len mused before turning to Ray, “The ship isn’t on fire is it?” He asked, growing slightly concerned when Ray stopped in his tracks to think.

“I don’t think so,” he decided,

“Should we check?” Sara asked just as they reached the back door of the house.

“If we see smoke then we’ll do something,” Len decided, heading into the house because he didn’t want to walk all the way back to the woods if there was a 50% chance it would be for nothing.


	5. Rainy Days

Cleaning up the house took the majority of time the rest of that first week there. It wasn’t hard so much was it was tedious, as there was a thick coating of dust on just about everything. Ray and Kendra both made good on their promises to find work for themselves, along with Martin. He and Ray both were able to find jobs at the tutoring center of a college forty-five minutes away while Kendra was waitressing at a place in town. Fortunately in 1986 four out of seven people in a house working was enough, though that didn’t stop Len and occasionally Sara and even Rip from taking a few odd jobs around town when need be. They had been here for just a few days shy of a month now and for the most part the house was all set, save for a few mice.

Kendra and Ray still stayed in the attic, though Ray reported that Kendra didn’t sleep much because she was terrified of the rat she saw on occasion. They set traps but never seemed to catch anything; the infernal creature either stayed away from the devices all together or sometimes managed to get the bait off with getting caught. Turns out that they didn’t need the traps though, all they needed was a bowl and Sara’s reflexes.

It started one night around eleven, and despite the latish hour Jax and Len were still wide awake and rearranging the furniture of their bedroom. They didn’t have much, just their two beds and a desk Len had pillaged from the dump earlier in the day. They knew they were going to need it since Kendra kept getting on their cases about leaving notes and sketches for the Waverider’s repairs, and admittedly a few robberies, all over the kitchen table. They were trying to figure out how to rearrange the room to accommodate for the new desk while still maximizing their floor space. They had it all planned out; they would just need to move Jax’s bed over a little bit. So that’s exactly what they were doing when they heard Kendra’s shriek.

They shared a glance before dropping the bedframe and bolting, weeks of living on the Waverider having them trained to run towards a scream, especially if it came from the member of the team who could sense Savage. Sara came out of her room just as they did and led the way down the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Jax demanded as the three of them came to a screeching halt in the kitchen doorway, noticing how Kendra was sitting on the counter with her knees drawn to her chest, her balance impressive considering the cabinets are right above the counter and the surface was a wreck, so there was really no room for her to sit.

“I saw the rat,” she squeaked out, all three of her worried teammates deflated with a mix of groans.

“Where?” Sara asked, Kendra responded by pointing in front of her and Sara peered around the corner of the opposite counter but saw nothing.

“It ran away,” Kendra explained and with a sigh Sara walked further into the kitchen. She gently pushed Kendra from her seat and opened the overhead cabinets, scanning them for something.

“What are you doing?” Len asked as she stood on her toes,

“Catching a rat,” Sara replied just as she found what she was looking for; the most beat up Tupperware bowl that they had salvaged from the Waverider’s kitchen.

“Uh Kendra said it was over there,” Jax objected, pointing to where Kendra had pointed.

“I know,” The blonde agreed, turning around with the bowl in hand and claiming what had been Kendra’s seat on the counter. “If we want it to come back we’re going to have to be very quiet.” She said, her voice a whisper for emphasis.

Although they had no idea why, the other three obeyed her command and stood completely still and completely silent. Kendra, who was standing in the center of the room right now, got the feeling that this was going to take a while and slowly lowered herself into a chair. They must have stood there without moving a muscle for a solid five minutes before Jax caught sight of the rat, scurrying across the floor from it’s hiding place.

“There!” He announced in an urgent whisper, pointing to the creature.

Sara glanced in the direction out of the corner of her eye, not daring to move her head too quickly. She was completely zoned in on her target, her arm raising ever so slowly and being mindful not to bang against the cabinet above her. She braced more weight onto the other hand, the one by her side and gripping the edge of the counter, slowly pushing herself forward. She froze after a few seconds, but only for another few seconds before she pounced in one, Barry Allen fast, motion. She all but threw herself off the counter, landing on the floor in a crouch with her bowl coming to land face down directly over their rat, effectively trapping it.

Kendra let out a frightened squeak at the sudden sound of the bowl connecting with the floor while Sara gave a triumphant chuckle.

“Got it,” she announced,

“Good job,” Len commented before turning his attention back to Jax, “Come on, let’s finish with your bed before the sun comes up.” Jax nodded in agreement and the two left the girls in the kitchen to deal with the rat.

“Can you get me a piece of paper?” Sara asked and with a nod Kendra snatched up the first piece of discarded notepaper that she saw and handed it down to Sara.

She watched closely as Sara carefully slid the edge of the paper underneath he rim of the bowl, shimmying it slowly as so not to give the rat a chance at escape while she worked.

“League of Assassins teaches you how to catch mice?” Kendra finally asked, Sara laughed at the idea.

“No, a friend of mine had a pet rat when we were kids and it was always getting out, I watched him catch it a couple times.” She explained just as she finished sliding the paper over the bowl’s opening. She stood up slowly, being careful to keep the paper pulled tight and the rat trapped inside as she headed for the back door. Kendra noticed where she was going and hurried forward to get the door, Sara smiled her thanks and went outside to let their little friend go on the edge of the woods.

* * *

 

That rat wasn’t the last one they found in that house. Two days later Ray saw another one in the bathroom, Sara spent ten minutes sitting on the edge of the tub until she caught it. That same night a much smaller mouse was spotted in the living room, it didn’t show itself again for another two hours. By the end of the week Sara was carrying that bowl around with her everywhere she went, even sleeping with it placed next to her bed. Rip tried arguing that they should just kill the rodents, convinced that because Sara kept letting them go it was the same one repeatedly getting back into the house. But Sara defended her methods, saying that because the bowl is see-through she’s seen every mouse she catches up close and each one is different. Besides, they did set traps; it’s just that Sara does the job much better.

“Can I help you crook?” She asked from where she was positioned, crouching down beside the couch with her bowl in hand, Len standing in the doorway to the living room, watching her with an amused smirk.

“Don’t mind me assassin, I’m just watching the show.” He excused, during the day the two of them and Rip usually worked on the Waverider, considering Ray and Stein took the car to work there wasn’t much else to do. For this reason Kendra usually tried to work the day shift at the restaurant, an issue Jax didn’t have considering the garage closes at six.

That being said it was pouring rain today and the three of them at the house had decided it wasn’t worth dragging themselves out to the ship, which with their luck was probably leaking. So with the place mostly fixed up they were quickly beginning to grow board.

“When Stein and Ray get back you and me should take the car down to that appliance store, I heard you talking with Rip earlier about getting a microwave, we should pick up a TV while we’re there.” She suggested,

“I didn’t tell Rip that I’m planning to obtain that microwave by stealing it,” Len informed her, not that it came as a surprise to the blonde.

“You’ll still need a get away driver,” she said and she could practically feel him smirking behind her.

That was when her mouse finally came scurrying into sight, so Len kept quiet for the moment. He watched Sara’s head turn ever so slightly, each one of her senses honed into focusing on the little rodent. He may have been standing behind her, but he could tell that her eyes had that extremely calculative look in them. He could almost see the gears turning in her head as she studied her prey, predicting it’s next move. She waited until her mind was just a split second or two ahead of the creature’s body, when she had seen enough to be able to tell exactly where it would next take a step. Then, almost without warning, she sprung forward and slammed her bowl down over it.

“You should’ve named yourself after a cat,” he mused while handing her the paper she hadn’t yet asked him for.

 

* * *

 

“Professor would you please get over it?” Ray whined more than asked as he and Stein drove back to the house in the pouring rain.

“No, it’s a college not a kindergarten. The students should be more mature than this!” Stein exclaimed, he was completely livid over the fact that some kid had pulled the fire alarm earlier in the day and forced everyone out in the rain.

“Has it occurred to you that maybe the kid actually thought something was on fire?” Ray asked, to be honest he knows that he should probably just let Stein complain. The guy does have every right to be annoyed, Ray would’ve been annoyed himself had he not been in a separate building at the time.

“Nothing was on fire Raymond,” Stein defended.

“I’m not saying it was, I’m just saying that maybe the kid thought-”

“It was a prank to get out of an exam!” Stein cut off, normally he wouldn’t be so quick to snap but considering his now ruined shoes were still filled with more water than your average goldfish bowl, he was pretty miffed.

Ray rolled his eyes and let the issue drop, choosing instead to focus simply on driving. Still, he has to admit that seeing The Professor so irritated by a prank played by a college student was kind of funny.

 

* * *

 

While Sara was catching mice and those who had been dubbed “the nerd twins” were driving, Jax was sitting on an overturned crate in the shop doorway, watching the rain come crashing down. He had been kind of hoping that Ray and Stein might swing by and pick him up after work, but their drive back to town was almost an hour, especially in this weather. Meaning that even if they thought of it he would still be sitting here for a while.

“Need a ride?” It was Jackie’s voice behind him that snapped him out of his thoughts. She was standing there with her jacket already zipped over her jumpsuit and her keys in hand, ready to leave.

“If you don’t mind,” he said and she shook her head.

“I’m not making you walk home in the rain,” she said and the next thing Jax knew he was following her out the door, racing behind her to a beat up, orange colored, 1964 Chevy.

He ducked into the passenger seat just as quickly as she did the same on the driver’s side.

“Thanks,” He said as she started up the car.

“No problem,” she said.

The drive was pretty quiet, the sound of the rain coming down outside the car being the only thing that cut through the silence. Jax looked around the car and quickly noticed a CD case on the center console; causing his brow to furrow in confusion.

“Yo, people did use CD’s in 1986?” He asked on impulse, having been born in 1995 he did have CD’s growing up but he also had a fair amount of cassette tapes so he had never been exactly sure when CD’s became popular.

“What?” Jackie asked him in confusion, Jax’s eyes growing wide as he realized his mistake.

“What?” He decided to ask, hoping that maybe he could confuse her enough to forget.

“What did you just say?” She asked, obviously trying very hard to keep her eyes on the rode.

“I said, people use CD’s here?” He tried,

“And by _here_ …” she trailed off

“You know, uh, small towns. Even in the city not a lot of people buy CD’s, so I’m just kind of surprised.” He tried to cover, judging by the look on Jackie’s face she didn’t seem to exactly believe him, but she thankfully did drop the subject.

“Uh, I mean not really. I’ve only got two, they’re sort of just coming around here and I’m not sure how long they’ll last. They’re good but they get scratched,” she explained and despite the irony that she was both right and wrong Jax let out a sigh of relief, glad she wasn’t focused on his slip up any longer.

 

* * *

 

 

“Whose turn is it to go grocery shopping next?” Kendra asked as she dug through the fridge looking for something to make for dinner, as tonight it was her turn.

“I believe it’s Professor Stein and Sara’s turn next,” Rip replied from where he sat at the table, going over the Waverider’s blueprints and circling with a pen the area’s that need repairs, which is pretty much all of them.

“Well they better go tomorrow because it’s looking like it’s left overs tonight,” she mumbled while pulling out the various bits and pieces that was left from the past few days. That amounted to two and a half pieces of chicken, a few frozen hamburgers, and some about to go bad vegetables.

Thinking to herself about what she could do with this Kendra opened a cabinet and found that they did indeed have some macaroni and sauce to go with it. She grabbed the items and placed the chicken back in the fridge.

“We’re having hodgepodge for dinner,” she informed Rip who didn’t react except for with a shrug. “So please have your notes off of the table,” she requested, a little more annoyance to her voice than there was previously. “Why don’t you get a desk like Jax and Len did?” She murmured the question under her breath but Rip still heard it, and finally looked up.

“Is that where all the other notes went?” He asked and Kendra nodded, “Hm,” he mused to himself but only continued with his circling. It was just at that moment that the front door swung open and so Kendra and Rip both directed their attention to the doorway where they found Sara and Len, who had taken the car just after Stein and Ray returned from work, coming in lugging a bulky TV between them.

“I thought you went out to get a microwave?” Rip questioned as the two struggled to carry the heavy appliance into the living room.

“Picked this up too,” Len replied as he and Sara finally set the television down, each of them letting out a gasp of relief.

“Legally?” Kendra questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

“That’s none of your concern,” Len called over his shoulder as he and Sara headed back out into the rain. Kendra rolled her eyes and this time when they returned they came into the kitchen, Len carrying a microwave and Sara a much smaller but still fair sized box.

“We did get this legally,” she said it proudly, as if the fact that they stole the microwave and television was made slightly better by the fact that they had paid for the board game she was holding.

 

* * *

 

 

“Are we all set?” Ray asked later on that night after dinner when they were all seated around the table with the new monopoly board spread out.

“One question,” Len spoke up,

“Yes?” Ray asked,

“How do you actually win this game?” The crook asked, causing everybody to look at him but he only shrugged. “The only way I’ve ever played is whoever doesn’t quit wins.” He defended and the others nodded in acceptance of the answer, realizing that most of them had played that way as well.

“Once you run out of money you’re out, so basically last man standing wins.” Sara quickly explained, Len nodded.

The game then began with Jax rolling double six’s and buying the electrical company, he then proceeded to roll two more sets of doubles which of course landed him in jail.

“Strange, that’s usually where I end up.” Len half joked when his roommate was forced to put his mover on the jail space.

After Jax it was Rip’s turn and he immediately landed on the income tax space. After an hour Kendra was winning and Ray had lost most of his money to the others and was down to a stack of ones.

“I can’t believe it,” He started to complain, “There’s seven of us and I’m the only one whose landed on the Boardwalk!” He continued to whine, and it was true. After landing on the blue space for the third time Ray had finally coughed up his last four hundreds to buy it, which is what left him with just a few ones and at the time a ten. He had hoped that he could get his money back when someone else landed on the space but so far it wasn’t happening.

“You know considering you bought out Oliver Queen’s company I thought you would be a little better at this game.” Len drawled and Ray glared at him with a glare that said he wanted the crook to shut up because honestly he had expected the same thing.

“Ray if that Boardwalk isn’t helping you-”

“Forget it Sara,” Ray cut her off, she had the Park Place card and for the past five turns he had been trying to bargain it out of her. He had finally given up and apparently she took that as her cue to start trying for the Boardwalk.

“Just hear me out,” she pouted and Ray sighed, mostly because it was her turn and so she had every right to pitch her deal. “If you give me Boardwalk, I’ll give you five hundred bucks, that’s a hundred more than you paid for it.” She offered but Ray still scoffed at the proposition.

“Yeah, then you’ll build houses on both spaces and clean us all out. No deal,” He said and so with a growl Sara continued with her turn, understanding that Ray wasn’t ready to budge just yet.

“Ha, Kentucky, I own that one.” she gloated when she fell just one space short of landing on Stein’s Indiana Avenue.

“Ok, my turn.” Kendra said as she took the dice. Ray watched with baited breath as his girlfriend rolled, counting the spaces between her piece and his Boardwalk. But like Sara with Stein she fell one space short, landing on the luxury tax square.

“About damn time,” Len noted, glad to see the slight dip in Kendra’s luck of only landing on her own spaces. She stuck her tongue out at him while she placed her $75.00 in the center of the board.

It was another hour later, after Ray had mortgaged two of his properties, that he finally got lucky and landed on Free Parking.

“No!” Jax nearly shouted, he wasn’t in much better shape than Ray and needed the money from that space.

“Calm down Jefferson,” Stein lectured as the younger man banged a hand against the table.

“We’re playing monopoly, everyone flips out eventually.” Sara said in defense to Jax while Ray laughed tauntingly about his winnings.

“Just be grateful you never played with Mick, he tends to set board games on fire when he isn’t winning. Sometimes he’ll do it out of victory if he does win.” Leonard said.

“I take it Mick ended up banned from a lot of game nights,” Kendra joked,

“Yup,” Len replied, completely serious. “Lisa and I banned him from board games, the two of us banned Lisa from card games because she hides the high ones up her sleeve, and they banned me from marbles because I used a weighted one.” He continued to explain. Ray chuckled, mostly because he was still giddy from getting the money in the center of the board.

“Was there one game you could all play?” He asked and although Len normally would’ve told the man to shut up and mind his own business he instead, for once, indulged him and thought on the question.

“Charades,” he finally answered, “But Lisa’s the only one who likes that game, and only because Mick and I make total fools of ourselves, so we don’t play.” He continued, not at all surprised that no one seemed to have expected either him or Mick, or Lisa for that matter, to have ever played charades.

“My turn,” Jax finally broke the silence, snatching up the dice and shaking them hard for good measure.

In the end Kendra started losing to Jax and Ray so she became the first to quit. Rip finally became the first to be out via losing all his money after the game had gone on for three hour. Sara tried to keep playing but she had laid her head in her arms long ago and was practically falling asleep at the table when Stein passed his position as the banker to Ray and quit the game, waking Sara up and telling her she was out.

“No, I’m gonna stay.” She had said in a tired voice as Stein rose from the table with a sigh and proceeded to grab her arm as if to pull her to her feet.

At first she looked up at him with a look that mixed shock with the warning that if he wanted to keep his hand he would take it back, a look that the others all shared. Stein, of course, noticed this and did as was advised. The being said he still remained standing next to Sara’s seat.

“You’re tired,” he finally said, “Go to bed before you fall asleep here.” He continued, his voice stern in a way the others had only ever heard directed at Jax before.

Everyone watched the exchange with baited breath, and were admittedly very surprised when Sara rose from her seat.

“Night guys,” she said before walking out of the kitchen, Stein following her.

After that Len quit, although that was mostly because he was about to be forced into mortgaging and he wanted to save his pride. It was Ray who one in the end, because although Jax was ahead he didn’t have the patience to keep playing.


	6. Time Drift

“Why did you pull Sara away from the game?” Rip questioned Stein when he went upstairs and found his roommate dressed for bed and about to head to the bathroom.

“She was falling asleep at the table,” The other man defended as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and he was clearly caught off guard by the question.

Rip sighed and shut the door, getting that look that he gets when he isn’t quite sure he wants to have the conversation he is initiating, because he knows whomever he’s talking to won’t listen.

“We need to be careful professor,” he finally said, “We can’t allow ourselves to fall subject to the time drift.” He warned but Stein only looked at him as if he were insane.

“I fail to see how removing Sara from-”

“I saw the look in your eyes Martin,” Rip cut him off, “I’ve worn it on my own face many times, that gentle firmness that instructed her to do as you said. That’s a father’s look Martin, and despite what our cover says we need to remember that it’s only a cover, and that it is not your job to take care of Sara.” He warned and at first it appeared that Stein may have been listening, but by the end he appeared almost offended.

“I assure you, Captain, that I am well aware that Sara can take care of herself as well as the fact that I am not her father.” With that he brushed past Rip and opened the door, leaving to go brush his teeth and leave the Captain alone with his ridiculous accusations.

But as far as Rip was concerned, his accusations were far from being ridiculous. He’s experienced time drift before, as have half of the members of the team, and he knows that if they aren’t careful it will take them over. So this is why he decided to remain on high alert, a decision that was quick to invoke both annoyance and anger from the rest of the team.

 

* * *

 

It started the next day, when Jax’s boss had given him the day off because the garage only had one scheduled appointment and he could handle it himself. So Jax spent the day in the engine room of the Waverider with Rip and it wasn’t long before the questions started.

“So, how is the garage Mr. Jackson?” He asked it casually enough, though Jax knew that when Rip has questions there’s always some sort of disapproval behind the words.

“Fine,” he answered simply with a shrug.

“And uh, what about that girl who works there?” Rip questioned, “I noticed that she drove you back yesterday.” He continued; Jax’s shoulders dropped low with his sigh.

“Dude, it was pouring rain.” He told Rip,

“I know and while I’m sure it was innocent enough I just want you to be careful,” Rip said but his heart nearly stopped when the loud sound of Jax smashing his wrench against a piece of metal sounded out and the younger man turned on his heel to face the captain.

“You’re warning ME about being careful?” He demanded, “Why don’t you go warn Snart, he’s the one who might actually land himself in jail while we’re here! Or Ray, him and Stein are the ones tutoring, you know at a school where some kid might ask a question 1986 didn’t have the answer to and they might accidently say something they shouldn’t!” He continued, wisely choosing not to mention that he had said something he shouldn’t have only yesterday. “Look I get that you’re concerned about all that time drift crap but I’m not going to apologize for the fact that one of my co-workers is a girl!” He was shouting now, stepping dangerously close to Rip, and he knew it to so he took a breath as well as a step back. “Look, half the team spent two years displaced from their own time and we were still able to get them back. So why don’t you do me a favor and stop worrying so much about who I work with.” He snapped before deciding he’d had enough for one day and marched past Rip, “I’m taking a break,” he mumbled.

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” Sara said from her seat on the couch, looking over her shoulder at the doorway to see Jax trudging into the house.

“Rip’s being a pain,” he warned before coming into the room and flopping into the space on the couch next to her.

“There’s something new,” Len replied sarcastically from where he stood behind the new TV, meticulously adjusting the antenna. “How’s that?” He asked Sara who shook her head.

“Still nothing,” she replied, he sighed and began readjusting his angle.

“Man I get that he’s worried about this time drift thing and all that, but we’re here, and their ain’t much he can do about it.” Jax continued to vent to Sara.

“You’re preaching to the choir kid,” she said to him with an agreeing smile before it turned to a sigh. “The sooner Rip realizes we’re stuck here, the better.” She said, causing Jax to look at her with some surprise, although he wasn’t sure why since she’s been the least hopeful about getting out of here since they landed.

“You’ve been working on the ship-”

“Wait, wait, wait! Go back!” Sara suddenly shouted, springing forward in her seat when the picture on the TV suddenly flicked in and out.

Jax was quiet as Snart adjusted the antenna under Sara’s instructions until the picture returned into focus. “Stop!” Sara again shouted, Snart carefully took his hands off the antenna and Sara let out a sigh of relief when the picture stayed.

“If you really don’t think we’re getting out of here, why do you bother helping with the ship?” Jax finally finished his question as Snart joined them on the couch, taking the seat on the other side of Sara.

“There’s not much else to do around here during the day,” she replied, still smiling triumphantly along with Snart over the success with the TV. Her face became a little more serious when she turned to face Jax, “Look Jax, I help out with the ship to get Rip off my back, but no matter how much time any of us spends out there we’re never getting out of here.” She said, and the thing about the words that stung Jax were the total belief she appeared to have in them.

“What about you?” He asked, directing the question at Snart, “You think we’re stuck here for good?” He continued; his roommate was quiet for a minute.

“I don’t know,” He finally replied, “I’ve been out at that ship almost as much as our dear captain and to be honest, I don’t know if it’s ever going to work again.” He said and Jax did all he could to suppress a growl, he didn’t want to believe that they’re stuck here indefinitely. He needs to be able to hope that he’ll see his mom again.

“Well I’ve read the manual from front to back more than enough times, I know how to fix that ship, we’re gonna get out of here.” He said determinedly, Snart didn’t say anything, Sara just sighed.

“I’m sorry Jax, but we’re not.” She told him and with that Jax got up and left the room.

“Ouch, and they call me cold.” Len said to Sara once Jax was gone.

“I know,” Sara said before turning to look Len in the eyes, “But denying the truth is only going to hurt him in the end.” She said; Len held her gaze.

“How can you be so sure that’s the truth?” He questioned her,

“Because I’ve done this before,” she reminded him and although he had to give her that he still had to argue.

“True, but Jax is just a kid.” He tried to reason with her, but he immediately regretted it when the look in her eyes became cold and distant as she looked back at the TV.

“So was I,” she murmured.

 

* * *

 

As the week went on things in the house only became worse, for everyone. Rip was paranoid to no end about his stupid time drift, and while the others were all getting annoyed with it Sara in particular was scowling every time the notion of getting the ship back up and running was brought up. It was almost like she wanted to stay stuck in 1986, until Ray pointed that out and she threw an even bigger fit. It should’ve been obvious that she was nearing the point where she’d boil over, but even if it was no one knew what to do about it until one day when the team finally decided enough was enough and they’d had it with Sara’s foul moods.

 

It started innocently enough, a simple Saturday when she and Stein had been sent out on the weekly grocery run.

“Did we get everything?” Stein asked, after spending almost an hour in the store it finally looked like they had everything.

“I think so,” Sara replied and so they approached the register.

“Hello Ingrid,” Stein said with a smile to the old woman at the register who Sara and Jax had met on their first day. After having lived in 1986 for close to two months now Stein had established a friendship with the cashier.

“Hello Martin, Sara, how are you today?” She asked sweetly like she always did.

“Very well, and you?” Stein asked and the woman smiled her usual warm smile.

“Can’t complain, how’s the business going?” She asked and Stein just smiled,

“It’s going, my partner and I are still trying to find a suitable office but it’s going.” He replied and Sara couldn’t help but huff out a small laugh under her breath, still amazed people had bought the lie that Stein and Rip were looking for an office when they never actually checked into any places.

“Well Mr. Reynolds has been talking about selling the shop downtown,” Ingrid began to suggest.

“Oh you’re kidding!?” Stein asked in apparent shock but Ingrid shook her head.

“Low business,” she explained, “But you really should talk to him about the building,” she suggested, by now she had finished ringing them up and Stein had paid for the groceries and so the two were just standing there talking while Sara gathered up the bags.

“Oh yes I will, it’s very unfortunate about Mr. Reynolds but the building would be perfect!” He exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically for Sara’s liking.

“Hey, dad,” she interrupted, getting his attention. “I hate to rush you but we really should get back, remember that thing out in the woods?” She asked, cocking her head towards the door.

“What happened in the woods?” Ingrid asked,

“Yes um, a tree came down the other day, an old one. Sara and I promised to help Raymond with removing it.” He excused before he took one of the grocery bags from Sara, “It was nice to see you Ingrid, have a nice day.” He said before noticing that his ‘daughter’ was already halfway out the exit.

 

* * *

 

“Do you know what you were acting like in there?” Stein scolded Sara as they drove through town, her sitting in the passenger seat.

“What?” She asked, completely confused.

“In the store, I was trying to have a polite conversation and you were acting like a… like a teenager!” He exclaimed in what actually appeared to be true annoyance, “You were acting like a selfish teenager who couldn’t wait to get home for absolutely no reason whatsoever!” He continued to reprimand but to his surprise Sara actually snorted out a laugh.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt your date,” she joked but when she saw the expression on Stein’s face her laughter died. “Oh my god,” she said it with a sudden repulsion.

“Now Sara it’s not-”

“You do remember you’re married right?” She cut him off and he sighed,

“Before I left Clarissa and I may have gotten into a bit of an argument,” he admitted, his voice very apprehensive.

“You’re the one who told me not to get attached to Lindsay.” Sara said, choosing not to force Stein to delve deeper into the obvious issues he and his wife have.

“You were leaving 1958,” he said and he fully expected her to either agree with him or maybe even start yelling about how they’re leaving 1986 eventually, but she didn’t do either. Instead she just slumped down in her seat with her arms folded across her chest, allowing the rest of the car ride to be filled with a heavy silence.

 

* * *

 

“Did you get-?” Len didn’t have the chance to finish his sentence; Sara stormed into the kitchen, placed her grocery bag on the counter, and stormed off. Presently it was himself and Kendra in the kitchen, Raymond and Rip were out at the Waverider, and Jax was still at work. “What happened to her?” He asked instead when Stein came into the room, looking just as confused as Kendra and himself.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “Apparently it was my conversation with Ingrid but I can’t for the life of me understand why.” He continued; Sara and him both know that he isn’t really her father so he couldn’t understand why his interest in Ingrid had such an effect on her.

“What did you say to her?” Kendra asked,

“Nothing!” Stein defended, “She asked about the business and I gave a very vague answer as always, she mentioned something about Mr. Reynolds selling his shop and then Sara told me it was time to go.” He explained and Kendra groaned.

“I’m sick of this,” she muttered, “It’s been almost two months and still the most random things are setting her off.” She continued,

“I wouldn’t exactly say it’s random,” Len said, knowing full well that everything that set Sara off since they got here involved the fact that she couldn’t believe they would get home in one way or another. “But someone should talk to her,” he suggested and Kendra nodded.

“I would but I fear that I am the one that she is upset with at the moment,” Stein said,

“And I have to leave for work in a few minutes.” Kendra excused, eyeing Len with a pleading look and reluctantly he sighed a long sigh before grabbing two beers from the fridge and heading out of the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

When he got upstairs he was surprised to find Sara’s bedroom door open, and even more surprised to find her not there when he stepped inside. He almost turned around and left, when he noticed that her window was open and remembered that there was a bit of an overhang of roof outside her room. He crossed the room and looked out the window, unsurprised to find her sitting on the roof with her knees drawn to her chest and staring out at the field in the distance.

“Good thing we got the ship out of there,” He joked as he climbed through the window and offered her a beer.

“Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?” She asked with a smirk but she accepted the bottle nonetheless.

“I’m not good at talking without a crutch,” he told her honestly and she smirked as she uncapped her drink and took a swig.

“Me either,” she admitted, “You here to tell me I’m acting like a baby?” She questioned but he shook his head and took a sip of his own drink.

“I’m here because I suggested someone talk to you and I’m the only one who couldn’t find an excuse to get out of it.” He explained, again his voice was honest but this time with a hint of teasing.

“In that case let’s not and say we did,” She suggested but Len wouldn’t let her off the hook so easily.

“Stein says you pulled him away from hitting on the cashier?” He asked, knowing full well that the Professor has a thing for the old woman.

“If he’s not careful he’ll get caught up here,” she defended with another sip of her beer.

“Says the girl who is convinced we’re never getting out of here,” he chastised her; her eyes fell to stare at the shingles of the roof almost guiltily upon hearing that.

“You know it’s funny,” she began, “The Waverider is busted pretty much beyond repair, and a part of me wants to keep reminding myself that we’re never getting out of here. But if that’s true then… why the hell haven’t I packed a bag and left yet?” When she looked over at Len he knew she was asking him for an answer, and she didn’t expect him to have one. But he did, because ever since Mick she’s become the person that he’s closest to on the team, which is probably why she trusts him with this.

“The mission must have been perfect for you,” he mused, “The team, the same people day in and day out, like some kind of makeshift family. But the places change all the time, only half a sense of permanence; I’ll bet that’s just what you needed.” He continued and at first she appeared to be surprised by his observation before she looked down at her bottle and began absentmindedly stirring around the liquid inside.

“You’d win that bet,” she finally admitted after a long beat of silence, “Traveling alone trying to figure everything out, it was too lonely. But staying in Star City…” she trailed off, looking for the right way to phrase it. “It was just too much,” she eventually decided on and Len nodded.

“You want to know why you haven’t run off yet?” He asked and for a moment she looked a little surprised, she hadn’t actually expected him to come up with an answer. “It’s because you’re getting better,” he told her, “You found the peace for your bloodlust in 1958, you have control of it, and so while your old instincts are telling you to run you’re thinking that while you don’t necessarily want to do it in 1986 putting down roots somewhere someday might not be the worst thing.” He explained and her surprised face only grew before she replaced it with her mask of indifference by taking another sip of her beer.

“Leonard Snart has a soft side, who knew?” She mocked and he chuckled just a little.

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” Sara said later from the doorway of Stein and Rip’s bedroom, Stein was sitting on his bed, reading a book.

“Hello,” The older man said in slight surprise, looking at her over the edge of his book.

For a moment she just stood there, arms folded, eyes downcast, and foot scuffing the ground.

“Can I-” She finally tried, looking up and Stein quickly discarded his book.

“Please,” he said, gesturing for her to come in.

She entered the room with a grateful smile, and walked slowly as if contemplating her next move before she took a seat on the edge of his bed. In response Stein adjusted his position and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“I’m sorry about Clarissa,” she finally started with.

“It’s alright,” Stein said, although judging by his face it was far from being alright. “It’s my own fault really, I disappeared for nearly a year and then after those at S.T.A.R. Labs helped separate Ronald and myself we left again in order to learn more about our powers. Then he… passed away… and Jefferson became my new partner, so we left again.” Sara noticed how choked up he became when talking about his former partner but she decided it was probably best not to comment on it. “In retrospect I may have been able to teach Jefferson myself but that was hardly the reason for Clarissa’s anger with me. When Jefferson and I were gone, contact with Clarissa just wasn’t as regular as when I was away with Ronald. I thought it was simply because it was my second time off training that I didn’t feel the need to call her every night, or even every few days, but we stayed away longer this time. Then when we returned it was just after Captain Hunter had brought us to that rooftop, I returned only to say goodbye again and she was… well she was less than thrilled with the idea.” He confessed, his expression growing more and more guilty with each word that he said.

“I didn’t even tell my parents about this,” Sara finally broke the silence that had fallen over them. “I told my sister,” she admitted, “But only because I wanted to come, and my parents would’ve tried to talk me out of it. Well…” she paused with a thoughtful look crossing her face. “Maybe not my mom. But she pretty much abandoned the family after I died, the first time when I wasn’t really dead.” She amended and Stein gave her a chuckle.

“How many times have you died exactly?” He asked and she smirked,

“Just two, and the first time I wasn’t actually dead, everyone just thought that I was.” She promised and Stein nodded, admittedly unsure of what exactly to do with the information.

“I suppose you’re right though,” he admitted, “While we may be stuck here for a time I shouldn’t be unfaithful to Clarissa.” He said and Sara sighed,

“Did she leave?” She asked and the older man’s lack of answer was all that she needed to confirm the fact. “Sounds to me like she’s the unfaithful one,” She tried but that didn’t seem to help anything, not that she’d suspected it would. “Besides, it doesn’t look like you’ll ever see her again.” She mumbled, this got Stein’s attention off of his issues with his wife.

“Mr. Snart was supposed to talk to you,” he informed her,

“He did,” she all but snapped. “He tried convincing me that my temper is off the charts because I don’t believe my own words.” She explained; her face looking as if she were calling bullshit on the notion, but Stein cracked a knowing grin at her.

“Do you?” He asked,

“I don’t know,” she snapped, her furious eyes meeting his calm ones. “I don’t know,” she repeated in a much softer voice. “For the past… nine years I haven’t been able to think about how to get home, only how to survive until nightfall. Even when I was home I was just focused on staying alive.” She explained, “Damn,” she muttered, “Has it really been nine years since I got on that boat?” She asked, the realization behind her words dawning on her. Of course she knew it had in fact been nine years since she died her first death, but damn it still feels like yesterday.

“Yes,” Stein told her with a look of sympathy, “You can’t go back in time Sara, not even with the Waverider. The girl who walked onto that boat doesn’t exist anymore; she’s grown and has become a beautiful, strong, and courageous young woman.” Sara beamed with pride upon hearing his words before she reached over and wrapped him in a hug.

Stein was a little caught off guard by Sara’s actions at first but he quickly recovered from it and returned the embrace.

“How do I let her go?” Sara asked, only when she spoke did Stein hear the slight hint of fear in her voice. He pulled out of the embrace and looked at her, noticing the tears starting to form in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “But a good way to start would be to allow yourself to hope.”


	7. What You Did in the Dark

“Oh please tell me that’s a ghost,” Jax said one night as he lay wide-awake in bed. He’d been hearing the ceiling creak above him for the past ten minutes or so but he was hoping that it was just the house settling or something, and sure he’d heard some muffled voices but he’d told himself that Kendra and Ray were just talking, but now that he heard a very distinct moan he was running out of lies to tell himself.

“Not a chance,” Len replied from his own bed on the other side of the room, “But I’m suddenly very grateful that the walls on the ship are soundproof.”

“Man, I thought their bed was on the other side of the room!” Jax exclaimed in annoyance.

“It is, they’re not in it.” Len said and Jax sat up in bed to look incredulously at him as the older man lay in his bed listening carefully to the sounds above them with a calculative look on his face.

The ceiling was only creaking now and then, certainly not as much as Len figured it would be if both of his upstairs neighbors were shifting around. Of course Kendra might be light and smart enough to keep her movement to a minimum detection, but considering he’d bet that moan came out of her he doubted that theory for the most part.

“Raymond has her against a wall, my bet is her feet are off the ground so they’ll probably only last a few more minutes before-” He cut himself off as the sound of footsteps above them clumsily moved closer to his half of the room before they faded away. “They’re in bed,” he concluded, and Jax just flopped back down with a disgusted look on his face.

“What’s the matter kid? Can’t handle living below your sister and her husband?” Len teased, he was propped up on his elbow at this point and upon hearing the question Jax sat right back up.

“Ok one, she is not my sister! Two, her and Ray are not married!” He exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at his roommate.

“So it’s true? You do have a thing for her?” Len asked and Jax just looked away.

“I don’t-”

“Please, like I couldn’t figure out what Gideon was going to say when Rip congratulated you on repairing the ship the last time we crashed.” Len cut him off and so he just sighed in defeat. Len adjusted himself to sit crisscross on his bed; at this point neither of them was going to sleep any time soon. “Personally I don’t know what she sees in Raymond,”

“Dude if this is your idea of a pep talk-”

“But I will say this,” Len interrupted Jax’s interruption, “From what I know you and Kendra were both more or less thrown into this… insanity, by your partners. You’re both still trying to figure out what to do with your powers. Bottom line Jax, the two of you are just a little too much alike.” He advised and Jax considered the words but they didn’t quite make sense in his head.

“I though being alike was usually a good thing?” He asked,

“Depends,” Len answered, “Sometimes it is; sometimes two people do need to be alike in order for things work. I’m not so sure about you, but Kendra I think needs someone who came into this willingly, and no offence but considering the old man had to drug and kidnap you I’m guessing that you’re the farthest thing from that.” It may have sounded cold and blunt, but Jax could tell that in his own way Leonard Snart was actually trying to help him.

“What are you some kind of love expert all of a sudden?” He asked and Len just glared at him, but before he could say anything in a reply a knock came from the outside of their door. The two exchanged glances and looked at their clock, what was someone doing at their door at 12:30 in the morning? “Come in,” Jax finally responded and the door opened to reveal a very ticked off looking Sara all but storming in.

“I am going to go up there and kill them,” she announced as she shut the door behind her and Len gave a smirk.

“So it’s your room that their bed is above?” He asked knowingly, he had all but cased the house when they first moved in out of habit; it’s what he does when put into a new surrounding. So he knew that the attic was fairly large and obviously ran over most of the second floor. He also remembered helping Ray assemble the bed in question and suggested it’s location, not telling Ray that the only reason he cared enough to help was simply to make sure that he and Jax weren’t right below them.

“Yes, and normally I can take it but they won’t shut up!” Sara exclaimed, “They’re usually pretty quick but they’re really going for it tonight. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so freaking loud.” She continued to vent and Jax flopped back down with a groan, in absolutely no mood to hear about this.

“You can get your revenge on them later, but don’t kill them. Rip needs Kendra in order to kill Savage,” Len said to Sara who looked down at him with her arms folded, fighting the urge to say something about the mission being a lost cause.

“Can I kill Ray?” She asked instead and Len seemed to at least pretend to consider the idea.

“I won’t stop you,” he answered and she chuckled. She just stood there for a few more seconds and was about to head back to her room, despite how much she didn’t want to, when Len pretty much read her mind. “I get the feeling you don’t want to spend the night listening to those two, so if you want you’re welcome to sleep in here.” He offered and she smiled before climbing next to him in his bed as he made room.

“I swear if I look over there-”

“Don’t worry Jax, I think Kendra and Ray have ruined that for awhile.” Sara smirked as she made herself comfortable. Neither she, Len, nor even Jax denied the idea that her and the crook might have… you know… under different circumstances.

 

* * *

 

“Morning,” Kendra greeted her friends as she usually does when she walked into the kitchen for breakfast, Ray not far behind her.

The others were all in there as usual places and going about their morning business. Rip was standing impatiently by the coffee pot while Jax shoveled cereal into his mouth, trying to finish his breakfast before he would be late for work. Sara was lazily stirring her own cereal around in her bowl, a sign that she was just about done. Stein was sitting there with the newspaper while Len filed through the cabinets for the jar of jelly so he could use it on his toast.

“Good morning,” Stein greeted, not once taking his eyes off his paper.

“You two have fun making babies last night?” Sara questioned with a completely strait face, not even looking up from her breakfast.

At the question both Ray and Kendra’s eyes went about a mile wide and their faces fire truck red, not that anyone noticed once Jax started choking.

“Jefferson,” Stein said in concern, as he not so lightly hit his young partner on the back in an attempt to help him get the air back into his lungs.

“We told you not to eat so fast,” Len drawled as he took his seat at the table, “we’re out of jelly,” he continued as if now were an appropriate time to inform the others of this.

“I gotta go to work,” Jax said, barely having caught his breath as he pushed away from the table and left for work.

“Is there something someone wants to tell me?” Rip questioned the rest of the group just as they heard the front door close behind Jax.

“Well uh… I think Snart already said it, we’re out of jelly.” Ray awkwardly stuttered out, somewhat recovering from his embarrassment.

“Sleep in my room for a night, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.” Sara said as she got up and placed her bowl in the sink.

“You can hear us?” Kendra asked the blonde; apparently she and Ray were unaware of how loud they really are.

“We can all hear you,” Len informed her, “but last night you actually disturbed Sara out of her room.” He continued and if it’s possible for Kendra’s cheeks to grow any redder, they did.

“Yeah, I had to camp out in Jax and Snart’s room.” Sara added, turning around and leaning against the sink.

“Ok stop, stop.” Rip ordered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I even have to tell you this, because I thought I could trust you all to be mature adults on this mission, but if you’re going to be… engaging in night time activities-”

“Screwing,” Len simplified Rip’s term.

“Please try and keep it down and PLEASE make sure you use protection,” he warned before eyeing Sara then Kendra with a serious look, “If one of you were to fall pregnant I may actually have to leave you here. Time jumping has unpleasant effects on the body already, as you all know, but time jumping while pregnant is extremely dangerous.” He warned them, hoping that just this once his team would listen to him.

“Don’t worry Rip, we’re being careful.” Kendra assured him,

“And you don’t have to worry about me, I haven’t been with a guy in two years.” Sara said smugly, as if she were proud that it was mainly miss goody two shoes that was being warned about sex and not her.

“Just saying,” Rips told her, trying to drop the matter.

“Well, fun as this conversation has been, I have to get to work too.” Ray said before giving Kendra a quick kiss on the cheek and hurrying out the door, not even bothering to try eating breakfast after that.

Upon seeing Ray, who was his ride to work, go zipping out the door, Stein folded up his paper and hurriedly followed him.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey,” Jackie greeted when Jax showed up to work.

“Hey,” He replied distractedly,

“What’s up?” She asked,

“Not much, except I sleep in the room below my sister and her husband.” He said with a cringe, both at the memory of last night and the fact that he had to refer to Kendra and Ray as being married, something he really doesn’t like doing.

“Oh, that loud?” She asked with a slight and knowing laugh, taking some amusement out of her friend’s misery.

“Yup,” he groaned and Jackie laughed again.

“I’m sorry,” she wasn’t of course, not really. Jax could tell that she was very entertained by the thought of him being subjected to such a torture, and she doesn’t even know the half of it.

“It’s whatever,” Jax sighed; really he just wanted to get off of this conversation.

“What are you two talking about?” The gruff voice of Ben interrupted as the older man came hobbling out of his office, his right foot dragging like it always does.

“Nothing Ben,” Jackie answered, not wanting the old man to turn their conversation into some kind of lecture.

“Keep in mind missy, when it comes to you nothing is another word for trouble.” He teased and Jackie beamed proudly at the accusation.

“In that case, you don’t want to know.” She amended and Ben chuckled,

“Neither of you is in trouble?” He asked and they both shook their heads. “Then you’re probably right.” He agreed, finally letting the issue drop.

 

* * *

 

 

“So, our first Thanksgiving with the team,” Ray mused a few days after the incident at breakfast, since which he and Kendra had been too afraid to do anything at night other than sleep, and the two of them were making their way through the grocery store to get supplies for the holiday.

“Let’s just hope Rip doesn’t kill us,” Kendra muttered as she tested the weight of the turkey in her hands before placing it into the shopping cart. Celebrating the holiday hadn’t actually been discussed in the house, yet, but she and Ray had celebrated Thanksgiving the last time they were stranded and even in the less than ideal situation it had brought a sense of joy. Besides, it was kind of exciting to Kendra to think about celebrating with all of the people who had become like a family to her even before the crash.

“He’ll get over it, if nothing else your apple pie will win him over.” Ray assured her and she had to smile at that.

“You do have a point there,” she gloated before they moved on and into the next isle. “But that’s only if he doesn’t throw all the supplies away first,” she continued.

“Come on, Rip’s uptight but he’s not heartless.” Ray assured her, she nodded in agreement, choosing to believe his words over hers.

 

* * *

 

“Rip’s going to kill you two,” Sara deadpanned when her friends returned from the store. They had been sent to the store to get the basic groceries that were needed for the next week or so and had returned with that, and the supplies for a Thanksgiving dinner.

“Hey, we all know I’m an optimist but, even I know that the Waverider won’t be operational before next week and if we’re here over Thanksgiving we might as well celebrate.” Ray said in defense of Kendra and himself, and their decision to get supplies for the holiday without running it by The Captain.

“As long as Raymond isn’t in charge of the oven I’m all for it,” Len said as he came into the kitchen, having taken note of the groceries that were being put away and having heard the conversation he was able to figure out what was going on.

“Dude,” Ray exclaimed, somewhat offended. “It’s been almost two months, and besides I have used the oven since we moved in.” He defended himself but Len just smiled his signature, teasing smirk, happy to have gotten a rise out of his teammate.

“Well whether Rip’s happy or not we’re celebrating Thanksgiving,” Kendra said matter-of-factly.

“Pretty sure he’s not going to be happy,” Sara said, casually tossing an apple from one hand to the other.

“Not even Rip can be that extreme in trying to avoid time drift,” Ray argued,

“Not that,” Sara said in rebuttal, “Rip’s from London.” She reminded the group, many of who blushed upon realizing that Rip probably doesn’t celebrate the holiday anyway.

“Well he’s living in New Hampshire now so he’s going to give it a chance.” Kendra decided and with that she ended the conversation and continued to put away the groceries.

 

* * *

 

 

Sara was trying to take Stein’s advice, she really was, but letting go of the person you used to be is much easier said than done. She knows he’s right when he says that even with the Waverider she can’t go back in time. Sure she can do so in the literal sense but she can never return to being the girl she was before she got on that boat. For the most part she would never want to, looking back that girl was an idiot. She only did well in high school because the teachers didn’t give a damn, and she knew it too. She knew she wasn’t book smart enough to hold her own in college, but she went anyway. When the work got too hard she skipped classes and partied, and as if that isn’t bad enough she slept with her sister’s boyfriend. So yeah, she has no desire to be that girl again.

But to live in the uncomplicated simplicity that girl did?

Yeah, she’d love to have that back.

She loves this mission, she knows that she needs to do this, be honestly, her personal mission is to be able to walk away from this life in the end and not feel broken.

But that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to be possible.

Right now, as she’s lying awake in bed unable to sleep, these are the thoughts that are haunting her.

_“It’s going to happen again,”_ Her thoughts taunted her, _“You got lucky in the engine room, but you’re still going to die in this life.”_ She’s trying to sleep but the thoughts are ringing mercilessly in her head. Then, for the first time since last week, she hears the slight creaking and a muffled gasp coming from the room above her. She rolled her eyes and groaned quietly to herself, she needed a distraction from her thoughts but not this kind.

They were quiet; in fact the only sign that they were still going at it was the very occasional creak of the ceiling that just as easily could’ve come from the house settling. This disappointed Sara to a degree, not that she wanted to listen to Ray and Kendra “make babies” as she had put it last week and frankly still found funny, but she didn’t want to be alone and their “baby making” is really the only excuse she can give.

But, technically, she has reason to believe that’s what’s going on in the room above her and that should be enough to disturb her. So she gets up and quietly tiptoes down the hall until she finds herself in front of the door to Len and Jax’s room. For a moment she hesitated, wondering if they would see right through her. But she decided that it was worth the chance and knocked on the door. When no reply came she considered going back to her own room and just forcing herself to go to sleep, but instead she knocked a second time.

“Come in,” Len’s voice said after a minute. Sara opened the door to find Jax sitting up in bed, Len still lying down but craning his neck to look at her, and they both looked to be half asleep.

“Are they going at it again?” Len finally asked her and she nodded.

“Yup,” she huffed in mock annoyance, “Not nearly as bad as the other night but still enough to keep me awake.” She continued and so with a sigh Len scooted over and pulled back his covers.

Sara smiled and shut the door behind her, happily proceeding to crawl into Len’s bed like a giddy little girl. She noticed that Jax rolled his eyes before lying back down.

“Goodnight assassin,” Len murmured before rolling over to face the wall, purposely taking a good amount of the blanket with him.

“Goodnight crook,” Sara countered, mimicking his actions, even tugging at the blanket as she rolled over.


	8. Thanksgiving

Rip had heard over the week that his team had plans to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving and contrary to popular belief he was ok with the idea, that is until the holiday actually came around.

It started off fine; Kendra and Martin were in the kitchen early in the morning while the others were in the living room watching the parade on TV. Most of them had offered their help, all except Snart, but they kept getting shooed out of the kitchen. It isn’t that the help wasn’t wanted, it’s simply that they could only have so many people bustling around the kitchen before someone got in someone else’s way and someone got hurt. So instead they were all spread out between the couch and the floor.

“I know I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before,” Rip began as they watched the parade, or paid half attention that is. “But I can’t be the only one who finds these balloons creepy.” He continued as the rather disturbing sight of a giant inflatable whale, Baby Shamu apparently, made its way down the streets of New York City.

“I’d say they get less creepy with time but… they don’t.” Sara replied from her seat on the floor.

“So why are we watching it?” He asked, more than ready to change the channel.

“Because the game doesn’t come on until later, besides it’s tradition.” Len explained from where he sat next to Rip on the couch.

“If we already know who wins the game, do we have to watch it?” Kendra asked as she came into the living room.

“No, we don’t have to.” Ray said, obviously disappointed by his girlfriend’s disinterest in watching the football game later on.

“Never pegged you for a football fan Raymond,” Len drawled and Ray shrugged.

“I mean I never played but I used to watch the game with my dad every year,” he replied and Len nodded but didn’t say anything, not wanting to think about memories of his own father.

“We’re watching the game Kendra, no use trying to talk them out of it.” Sara said, prompting Len to look down at her with a quizzically raised eyebrow.

“Didn’t know you were into football either, assassin.” He mused but she just shook her head.

“I’m not, but I have respect for tradition.” She replied with a slight smirk, Kendra just shook her head as Stein came walking in.

“The turkey is all set,” he announced.

“Thank you,” Kendra said to him kindly, Le smirked in amusement.

“You had the old man gut the turkey?” He questioned, he had never exactly pictured Professor Stein as having it in him to reach his hand into the supermarket bird and yank out the head and organs that were still inside.

“I will TRY not to take offense to that, Mr. Snart.” Stein said, obviously a little annoyed by the lack of faith Len had in him.

“Take offense if you want, I don’t really care.” He drawled.

 

* * *

 

Dinner turned out to be; well actually it wasn’t a total disaster. Not to say that it didn’t have its moments, because it certainly did. One moment came about because everyone ended up taking turns in the kitchen, and Ray of course became the first to burn something.

“Remind me again why we even let him in here?” Len questioned as Jax very carefully moved the smoking pot that had once been corn boiling in water.

“At least nothing caught fire this time,” Sara quipped, attempting to peer over Stein’s shoulder at the scene.

“Yet,” Len added to her statement as Jax carefully set the pot down on a spare potholder.

“Ok,” The youngest member of the team said as he let out a breath he had been holding. “Next time Ray says he turned off the burner, somebody double check.” He ordered and everyone nodded while Ray just looked offended.

“I swear I turned it off.” Ray defended,

“Right,” Len drawled.

The next issue came while they were still watching the parade and Jax decided that if they had to wait four hours to eat then he was going to have something for breakfast. Unfortunately all they had at the moment, that didn’t require use of the oven, was a box of granola bars. He went to get one and upon Stein’s request he brought one back for the old man as well. He tossed it over to him but Stein missed and the granola bar and it hit against the TV antenna and knocked out the signal.

“Thank god,” Rip murmured as the others gave various other groans and unenthusiastic cheers in response.

“Yeah, the TV’s out; thank god.” Len muttered with sarcasm lacing his every word.

“My bad,” Jax apologized, even though everyone knew that had been a perfect toss and Stein is the one who missed.

“What happened to the TV?” Sara asked, following Jax’s path out of the kitchen and noticing that the signal had gone to black and white static on the television.

“The old man can’t catch,” Len answered her as he got up to readjust the signal.

“Well duh,” she huffed, this was met by spluttering protests from Stein and Ray telling him to give it a rest.

Other than that the day went pretty well, a little too well in Jax’s opinion. Lately Sara had been trying to be better about saying that they’re never getting out of here, but with her keeping her mouth shut he was starting to think that she just might be right. Here they were, circled around their small kitchen table, having thanksgiving dinner like a real family.

But they aren’t a real family.

They all know this, of course, but that doesn’t change the fact that they really are starting to act like one. Sure on the Waverider that might be ok, good even, but not here. They can’t afford to celebrate holiday’s here or form relationships with people outside of each other (not that any of them have but if the past teasing he’s received about Jackie and Stein’s crush on Ingrid are any indication, someone just might.)

Unlike Sara he doesn’t doubt that they can fix the Waverider, he knows they can. What he’s starting to doubt is whether or not they will. For the first time he’s starting to see why Rip is always so worried about time drift.

 

* * *

 

“What are you up to?” Sara questioned later on, once dinner was long over and the kitchen had been mostly cleaned up.

“Nothing,” Len replied, she had found him sitting on the couch with his legs stretched out in front of him watching a movie that was playing on TV. “Before you ask I have no idea what this is, it was just the first channel I found that wasn’t on commercial.” He explained and then, as if on cue, Ray came into the room and his face lit up like that of a puppy’s.

“Stagecoach?” He asked despite knowing the answer, plopping himself down at the very foot of the couch.

“Well I guess that answers that,” Sara said with a smirk, picking up Len’s legs and taking the middle seat on the couch before placing his leg’s back down over her own. Len glared at her for a second, but decided that saying something would most likely be futile so he simply turned his attention back to the movie.

“Oh are we watching a western?” Stein asked upon entering the room a few moments later, Kendra not far behind him.

“Stagecoach,” Ray answered excitedly as his girlfriend sat down on his lap, Stein merely nodded and went over to sit in the folding chair that had at some point today come to be part of the living room’s furniture.

“You know there’s a video store in town, maybe we should go down there sometime.” Kendra suggested after watching the movie for a few minutes.

“Yeah,” Sara agreed with a nod, “It’s been a long time since I went to a video store.”

“Not to mention how exciting that would be for Jefferson and Captain Hunter, I’d imagine neither of them has ever rented a video tape.” Stein began ranting, Len looked at the old man as if he were insane.

“Jax was born in ’95, I’m sure his mom brought him to Blockbuster at some point.” He pointed out,

“But you might have a point about Rip,” Ray said in agreement with Stein, “We should go.”

“Great, because things always work out so well whenever we take a field trip.” Len drawled but for the most part he went ignored by the group.

“Why don’t we go Friday night?” Sara suggested, “It’ll give us something to do.”

There was a mix of nods and murmured agreements, Friday night it is.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Friday night rolled around the group was beyond grateful for it, which is really saying something considering Thanksgiving had only been yesterday. But to be honest many of them were excited to be able to go to a video store again, and the others were just excited for something to do.

Snart couldn’t help but notice Sara’s bright smile when they walked into the video store, it was practically the first real smile she’d given since they crashed. He could tell that she was happy, but he was slightly confused when she made her way for the kid’s section.

“Never pegged you for the princess type,” he mocked as she looked at a _Cinderella_ tape.

“My parents used to bring Laurel and me here all the time, or a place like here anyway.” She told him and he was quiet, the way her nostalgic smile lit up her face she looked to be the happiest he’d ever seen her, maybe the happiest she had been since before she got on that boat. That’s why she was in this section, because this is the section she would’ve raced to as a child. “We’d always fight over which movie we were getting, sometimes if we were good or did extra chores at home mom would let us each get our own.” She reminisced and with an amused smirk Len scanned across the isles until he found Jax and Stein rolling their eyes at each other.

“Looks like you and your sister weren’t the only ones,” he commented, cocking his head over at the bickering pair. Sara chuckled at the sight as she put her video back on the shelf. “Awful as my father was, he did bring Lisa and I here from time to time.” He began and Sara looked up at him with attentive eyes. “It was mostly when he had a job coming up that he decided to bring me for. Lisa needed to be entertained at home so that she wouldn’t get scared and call the police, so he’d rent her a movie. She always wanted to know what was on the top shelf, even when I told her there was nothing she would like she had to see for herself, so I’d pick her up and let her look. It wouldn’t have been so annoying if she weren’t the most indecisive kid on the face of the earth, my arms still ache at the memory.” He mused and although Sara’s smile softened it actually seemed to grow brighter, if such a thing was possible.

“Good God no!” Rip’s exasperated voice suddenly rang out from nearby and the two looked over at a display to find Kendra and Ray nearly doubled over laughing at Rip’s reaction while holding up a videotape.

“What going on?” Sara asked as she and Len approached the three and when Kendra showed them what tape it was she had Len smiled wickedly while Sara just joined the laughter.

“Yes,” Len agreed, they needed to get that tape for movie night.

 

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe you’re making me watch this,” Rip said as the movie began, he had never seen his team so overwhelmingly in agreement for something and if that something weren’t so incredibly stupid he would’ve been happy.

“We’re not making you do anything, you are more than welcome to go to bed.” Sara mocked from her seat on the floor as they all sat huddled around the TV.

“Come on Rip it’s a classic,” Ray said, trying to defend the movie.

“Shut up Raymond, it’s starting.” Len said over his shoulder, as Ray was on the couch while he was on the floor.

“Yo, Steven Spielberg did this?” Jax asked upon seeing the beginning credits but he was met with a resounding “shush!” from everyone. “But there’s no sound yet!” He tried to defend only to be met by the same response.

As if to prove Jax wrong it was at that very moment that the TV screen began to make the sounds of a ticking clock, and then when the movie’s title card appeared Rip just looked away in sheer disappointment.

**_Back to the Future_ **

 


	9. Sick Jealousy

Jackie understands that her coworker Jax is new in town and so obviously she hasn’t known him for very long, but that didn’t stop her from thinking that things seemed a little off with him when he came into work Monday morning. He was, well he was quiet. He didn’t say hi to her or to Ben like he usually did in the morning, he also didn’t respond to anything either of them said to him in regards of small talk. The only thing that he did seem responsive too was whenever Ben asked him to do something, and then he only nodded and headed off to do it. She let him go on like this for a couple of days, figuring that when he told her everything was fine the first time she asked it just might be something personal that he either can’t or doesn’t want to talk about. But as the days turned into a week she was starting to worry about him.

“Well what do ya think?” Ben asked after Jax had gone home, he wasn’t much for sticking around to hang out for a few minutes after the garage closes anymore.

“I’m already on it Ben,” Jackie replied as she pulled on her coat, her boss chuckled at her.

“Of course you are,” he mused, he had known Jackie’s parents ever since high school and had known Jackie since just a few days after she was born. She’s never been able to keep her nose where it belongs, for better or for worse.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, back at the house, Sara was lying on the couch and starting to miss being dead. She had come down with a really bad cold and had done absolutely nothing all day. She hadn’t gotten dressed, hadn’t gone for the mile run she took nearly every morning, and she had barely eaten. She wouldn’t dare go out to the Waverider with Len while Rip was working some kind of odd job in town, no matter how boring watching daytime TV had gotten. The group’s latest rental from the video store was _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and she had already watched that three times today and was starting on her fourth. Her nose was stuffed up but what was worse was her throat, it burned with a searing pain every time she so much as coughed, which unfortunately was often. She was watching the clock, had been ever since Ray and Stein left for work this morning, they had promised to bring her home some cough drops.

 Upon looking at the clock for the billionth time today, her brow furrowed. It was nearly five-thirty, and Jax was supposed to get off his shift at four. Sure he has to walk home and sometimes he stays late, but he’s usually back by now. She decided to let the matter go; not having the energy to worry about him when the odds are that he probably just stopped somewhere. She then let out a loud sneeze followed by some sort of mix between a groan of agony and a whine, as the sneeze caused a trail of fire to flare up in her throat.

“You sound good,” It was Len’s sarcasm laced voice that reaffirmed her awful condition; he had come in the back and was just walking into the living room. She just moaned and rolled over to face away from him. “I’m taking a walk down to the hardware store, do you need anything?” He questioned her, there was a drug store just down the street from the hardware store, and to him Sara really looked like she could use some over the counter drugs.

“Cough drops,” she groaned, he wanted to argue and tell her that she definitely needs something stronger than medicated candy, but he also knows that when you’re sick there is no arguing, you just hone in on the one thing that you want.

“What kind?” He asked instead,

“Honey-Lemon,” she replied, her voice slightly muffled by the cushions that she had her face pressed into, though not enough that he couldn’t understand her.

“You got it,” he said as he headed out of the room.

“Thank you,” she croaked after him. She was well aware that Ray and Stein were getting her the exact same thing but they’re also both working late tonight, as it’s getting to be midterm season and so the tutoring center at the school is open an hour later. Meaning that they won’t be home until after seven and no way in hell can Sara handle waiting that long for cough drops. Len won’t be gone more than an hour, which is still a half hour sooner than the nerd twins will be home.

Home.

She’s just caught her mistake. Here she is trying to be a little more faithful to the idea of actually getting that tin can in the woods up and running again and yet she’s started referring to this house as home. She tries to attribute it to her groggy, sleep deprived, and television fried mind but it hardly works. She knows that the word came from an honest part of her; not a defensive part, but something inside of her that knows wherever these people are is a home to her.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when a knock sounded at the door, and with a very annoyed groan she literally rolled off the couch and got to her feet. She walked dizzily over to the door, suddenly very annoyed that she was currently the only one in the house.

“Len I swear if you locked yourself out, pick the damn lock.” She grumbled to herself, they live on the outskirts of a backwater town, what reason could anyone have for coming up to their front door. So of course it had to be Snart, probably forgot his wallet and decided to use the opportunity to annoy her. But when she opened the door she found Jackie standing on the front steps.

“Um, hi,” the girl awkwardly greeted, clearly feeling a little guilty about stopping by when she saw how sick Sara was.

“Hey Jackie,” Sara replied, her voice heavily impaired by her current inability to breathe through her nose.

“Um, sorry I didn’t mean to bother you but I’ve just been a little worried about Jax.” She admitted and that got Sara’s attention. She straightened up and leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms across her chest.

“Why, what’s going on with Jax?” She asked and Jackie seemed to deflate a little upon hearing her question.

“I was hoping you or his sister would know,” she confessed, wringing her hands together anxiously. “I don’t know why but he’s just shut down this past week. He won’t talk with me or with Ben, usually he jokes around with us but these past couple days he’s just been… cold.” She finished and so now, obviously, Sara was worried.

Cold is not Jax’s thing; it’s Snart’s. Jax’s thing is being the voice of reason in their group, it’s reminding them all that despite the fact that he’s “the kid” he’s still a powerhouse, sometimes literally. So to hear that he’s closing himself off is very alarming. Thinking about it, Sara did realize that he’s spent almost every afternoon this week with Rip out at the Waverider. In fact he’s probably out there now, just didn’t bother to come in the house today.

“I haven’t seen much of him this week, been locked up in my room.” It was half a lie, it’s true that Sara hasn’t seen Jax much this week but that’s because he’s been fixing a time machine, which she isn’t going to tell Jackie. “But Kendra should be home soon, if not someone will be, if you want to come in.” She offered, feeling bad that Jackie had come all the way out here and knowing that 1986 was a time when if someone you knew knocked on your front door you invited them in.

“Thanks,” Jackie said gratefully, entering the house.

“Hope you don’t mind if I go back to slowly dying on the couch,” Sara said as the two of them headed into the living room and she flopped back onto the cushions, Jackie sat down in the folding chair that they were yet to remove from the living room.

“Yeah, everything’s starting to go around.” Jackie muttered and Sara hummed her agreement.

“If Jax calls out of work sick anytime soon, you can blame me.” She said and Jackie chuckled before noticing what was playing on the TV.

“Good movie,” she commented,

“Not if you’ve seen it three times today,” Sara retaliated but she was content to watch it again if she had company this time around.

The two of them sat there in a comfortable sort of silence as they watched the movie, occasionally they made small talk but Sara’s throat was still killing her and so she was perfectly ok with just sitting in silence or listening to Jackie talk and only respond with nods or minimal words. Finally, however, Kendra walked through the front door and disrupted their peace.

“Whose car is-?” She cut herself off upon entering the living room and noticing a girl a few years younger than herself sitting in the folding chair, looking back at her.

“Kendra, this is Jackie. Jackie, this is Kendra, Jax’s sister.” Sara introduced, craning her neck to look over at Kendra. She made sure to enunciate the word _sister_ , making sure Kendra remembered the cover.

“Hi,” Jackie said politely, getting up and holding out her hand for Kendra to shake. “Please don’t mind the uniform,” Jackie began upon seeing Kendra’s rather confused face, “I just came from work.” She explained, beginning to think that it might have been a good idea to go home and change, made herself look presentable, before going to check on Jax. She had been so concerned with him that she didn’t even think about her grease stained jumpsuit, oversized work boots, or the fact that her usually pinned in a bun hair was now hanging down in a static mess; she probably looked like a train wreck.

“Hi,” Kendra finally replied as she accepted the handshake, making Jackie grateful she had at least washed her hands.

“Jackie’s worried about Jax,” Sara supplied from her position on the couch, a tissue now pressed to her nose.

“What’s going on with Jax?” Kendra questioned their guest, now folding her arms with curiosity like Sara had earlier.

Jackie then explained to Kendra everything that she had told Sara, and Kendra listened intently. Closing himself off; that certainly didn’t sound like something Jax would do.

“I was just wondering if maybe something’s wrong, he doesn’t seem like the type to shut down like this.” She finished her explanation.

“He isn’t,” Kendra assured her, “I’ll keep an eye on him, thank you.” She said and Jackie nodded, she looked like she was just about leave when someone who had come through the back door came walking in from the kitchen; Jax.

“Jackie?” He asked, more than a little surprised to see her standing in the team’s living room. “What are you doing here?” He continued; all three girls in the room looked more than a little guilty.

Before Jackie could respond, however, the sound of the front door opening and closing was heard and Len came walking into the room. At first he looked at the strange girl standing in their living room, but he also took note of her uniform and figured out who she was. He then turned to Sara and began digging through the plastic bag in his hand.

“They were out of cough drops,” he said, tossing her a lollypop instead.

She groaned at the news but still tore the wrapper off of her newly acquired treat, medicated or not sucking on it should help her throat at least a little bit.

With his business in the house done Len headed back out the door without another word, which Jackie noticed.

“Did I do something?” She asked, taking note of Len’s cold silence.

“No, he’s just like that.” Kendra assured her,

“Right, um, I should get going.” Jackie said, quickly waving her goodbyes and disappearing out the door.

“What was that about?” Jax asked once his friend was gone and Kendra fixed him with a rather disapproving glare.

“She’s concerned because apparently you haven’t been quite yourself.” She said it accusingly, not exactly in a motherly tone but something close to it.

“What?” Jax questioned, very confused by the statement.

“She said that you’ve stopped talking and laughing at work, and that you’ve shut down?” She accused and the look Jax got was a look they’ve both seen him get before, a look that says something is bothering him and he’s just been busted trying to hide it. “Jax?” Kendra questioned gently, taking a few steps closer to him in concern.

“I’m fine,” he told her, obviously lying through his teeth.

“You’re not fine-”

“Yes, I am.” Jax cut her off, anger threatening to lace his voice. “I’m fine,” he insisted again before heading back to the back door and all but slamming it behind him, no doubt on his way back to the Waverider.

“Wow,” Sara croaked once he was gone and Kendra turned to look at her, only to see the sick blonde beaming smugly back at her. “You have that same look on your face that Laurel gets when I won’t talk to her.”

 

* * *

 

 

Jax marched back out to the Waverider, grumbling to himself the entire way. What business does Jackie have butting into his personal life? If she thinks something is bothering him so much then she can ask him herself. Of course now that he’s thinking about it she did ask him a few days ago but just like he said to Kendra he told her that he’s fine.

“Why can’t people just listen?” He asked himself as he climbed through the barely accessible ramp way and onto the ship. He headed for the main control table, because if he could get Gideon working again then maybe she could tell them how to fix the engines. He started working on the controls; connecting wires that at this point he wasn’t even sure went together.

“Gideon?” He called out but received no answer, much to his dismay. He kept trying, again and again, until he found two wires that he clearly shouldn’t have tried putting together.

 

* * *

 

 

Stein and Ray entered the house around seven, arguing as usual, but for once Sara was excited to see them.

“Did you guys get my cough drops?” She asked from her position on the couch, trying to ignore the burning pain calling into the hall caused her.

In the hall, meanwhile, Ray and Stein stopped in their tracks and each let out a sigh.

“I told you we forgot something,” Ray practically whispered to Stein.

“Yes you did,” The older man admitted, he had also felt that they forgot about something they were supposed to do but despite wracking their supposedly genius brains neither of them had been able to remember.

“Sorry Sara,” Ray called into the living room, they heard their friend groan in misery at the answer.

Both men felt a little guilty of course, Sara is very self sufficient and rarely asks any of her teammates to do anything for her, so the fact that they forgot her one simple request was a little disappointing, both to them and to her. But they hardly had time to dwell on it, because right then the sound of the back door opening and slamming caught their attention. Moving into the living room they found Mr. Snart racing in from the kitchen with Jax slung over his shoulder.

“Jefferson!” Stein shouted in alarm as Sara immediately moved from the couch so that Len could set their youngest teammate down.

“What happened?” Ray demanded,

“I don’t know,” Len sneered, “I was down in the engine room when I heard him scream, I went racing up to the bridge and found the control table on fire and him unconscious next to it.”

“Did you put out the fire?” Ray asked and Snart only shot him a deadpan glare, so that was a yes.

“He’s got some burns on his hands, electric, I think he crossed some wires that he shouldn’t have.” Snart continued to explain as Stein examined his partner and the sound of Kendra barreling down the stairs could be heard.

“What’s going on?” She asked, still wearing pieces of her uniform from work so she had obviously been in the middle of changing when she heard all the commotion.

“Jax may have electrocuted himself,” Ray informed her just as she caught site of their youngest teammate and gasped.

“He appears to be alright, I think it was a combination of the shock from the electricity and the impact of being thrown back by the explosion of the control panel-”

“The control panel exploded?!” Kendra cut Stein off furiously.

“Yes, and if you ask me we’ve had more fires since we ditched Mick than we ever had when he was here.” Len commented as Stein and Kendra continued shaking Jax, who finally let out a groan as he woke up.

“Oh thank god,” both Kendra and Stein said in unison when he started waking up.  
“What happened?” Jax asked in a horse voice.

“Well, you probably caught my sick germs by now.” Sara croaked from her new seat in the folding chair.

“You also set the control panel on fire,” Len supplied for a third time.

“What?!” Jax demanded with wide eyes as he sat up.

“Relax kid, the damage wasn’t too bad.” His roommate assured him. “But stay in for the night, we’ll start back on the ship in the morning.” He continued,

“But-”

“Mr. Snart is right, Jefferson.” Stein said sternly, thanks to their physic link he could feel not only how frustrated Jax is, but also how desperate he is to get back to working on the ship. He can tell that it was probably that desperation and frustration that led to this incident in the first place, so it’s best that he stay inside and rest.

“Whatever,” Jax grumbled before he got up and trudged up to his room, mostly so he could get some distance between himself and the man capable of reading his thoughts.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Kendra said but Sara stood up.

“No, I will.” She said, causing all eyes to fall on her. She ignored that and leveled her eyes with Kendra. “You may be pretending to be his sister, but I’m the one who did this to him.” She admitted.

“What are you?” Kendra began to ask before she decided it just wasn’t worth it, “Sara whatever’s going on with Jax is not your fault.” She said firmly and the blonde sighed.

“We’ll see about that,” she said and with that she headed out of the room and after Jax.

“Rip takes one odd job in town for the day and the ship ends up in worse shape, maybe we do need him around here.” Len mused sarcastically as he headed for the kitchen; it’s his night to handle dinner.

 

* * *

 

 

“What?” Jax snapped angrily when he heard a knock on his door; can’t these people leave him alone for five minutes?

When the door opened he was surprised to see Sara standing there, her face still red with fever and her hair a static mess from lying on the couch all day.

“I’m only going to say this once,” she warned in the best tough voice she could manage in her current condition. “Because every word kills my throat a little more; but I’m sorry.” She said and Jax huffed.

“I don’t care if I get your cold,” he said, playing dumb; in that moment he learned that even diseased, Sara’s death glare is still intimidating.

“Not about them putting you on the couch, though trust me you’ll care later.” She said before taking just a step or two more into the room and folding her arms across her stomach. “No, I’m sorry for what I said to you, about never getting out of here.” She specified,

“It doesn’t matter. You were ri-”

“No, I wasn’t.” She interrupted, “I was defensive, and angry, and…” she trailed off, her eyes suddenly downcast guiltily at her feet. “And I wanted to hurt you,” she admitted, that took Jax by surprise.

“You-”

“When I was your age-” she paused to cough, and momentarily squeeze her eyes shut tight with the searing pain that it caused in her throat. “When I was your age I was floating on a piece of scrap metal, in my nothing but my underwear, in the South China Sea.” She began her story, looking at nothing in particular as she lost herself in the memory. “To make matters worse it was the middle of the night and there was a thunder storm going on all around me, I was so sure I was going to die.” She said this part with a shake of her head, as if she still can’t believe she survived The Gambit’s initial sinking. “After that I became a prisoner in every possible way, even when I was a guard I was still a prisoner.” She coughed again, and the pain in her throat was somehow worse this time. “Anyway, I was in a place where you couldn’t afford to have hope. If I’d had hope, or dared try to get home, I would’ve died. There was no future, there was no someday; there was only tomorrow. All I could do was survive to live another day, but this isn’t Lian Yu or Nanda Parbat.” Now she finally met Jax’s eyes, “When I was your age I had all of my innocence ripped from me, and trust me you are still innocent, just like I was” She took a deep breath, to calm herself, she needed it because she was going to hurt herself if she started shouting. “I’m sorry for what I said to you, I only said it because I wanted you to feel the hopelessness I did when I was your age.” She admitted before groaning, “I know that’s stupid and selfish but-”

“No,” Jax cut her off, “I mean, yeah it is. But I can’t say I blame you.” He finally stood up from where he was sitting on his bed. “Growing up, do you know how many times I wished some other kid would lose his dad?” He asked, hating the memories of the horrible thoughts that used to run rapid through his head. “I didn’t think it was fair that I had to watch all of my friends have their dads cheering them on during the footballs games, or that I had to listen to them talk about how much their dads were helping them with their passes and everything. So I get it. It’s gotta be hard being stranded with someone who thinks there’s a fighting chance to get home when you weren’t that lucky, even though you were at the same point in your life.” He said to her and she gave him a small smile.

“You’re a heck of a lot smart than I was at twenty,” she said and he laughed a little. “Don’t give up hope Jax, ever, but please don’t shut yourself off in order to avoid building a life here. We’re going to get out of here, you’re going to make sure of it, but don’t let it be all you focus on. Deal?” She asked of him and he grinned, feeling as though a weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.

“Deal,” he agreed, causing her to smile.

“Good, now these guys are never going to let me out of the house so I will pay you twenty bucks plus whatever the bag costs if you take the car down to the grocery store right now and get me a pack of honey-lemon cough drops.” She bargained with him, still desperate to get some relief from her sore throat, the lollypop had only been able to do so much.

“You got it,” Jax agreed with a laugh, grabbing his wallet and walking past her.


	10. Winter Storm

“Just a warning, I’m going to lose this game.” Sara said as she joined the circle of her friends sitting on the floor in their living room, a bottle of vodka in the center.

She had finally recovered from her cold, as had Jax, Ray, and Kendra after they caught it. Tonight was a usual Saturday night in the early weeks of December except for the fact that a raging blizzard outside had knocked the power out. The group had lit candles around the house and had their flashlights with them but three out of the four of them were turned off, the candles gave off enough light.

“To be fair, I don’t think anyone really wins.” Len drawled as he handed out shot glasses, they had decided to spend the night playing never have I ever.

They weren’t all playing, as Stein had said he wanted no part in drinking games and they should count themselves lucky he had agreed not to give Jax a hard time about playing despite still not being quite twenty-one yet. So it was the entire team minus Stein sitting in a circle on the living room floor.

“I can’t believe you all talked me into this,” Rip murmured before the game began.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Kendra reminded him, Ray had asked Rip once and he said no, Jax gave it a shot and he cracked; clearly he wants to play.

“Are we going to sit around here talking or are we going to find out who here still has their innocence?” Len questioned, wanting to start already.

“Hence the reason I am going to lose,” Sara added in, earning her a slightly defiant look from Jax.

“Ok, I’ll start.” Ray volunteered, “Never have I ever… had sex in a public place.” He said and Len smirked.

“Of course you haven’t,” he drawled as he poured himself a shot, Sara took the bottle from him and did the same.

“Anybody else?” She questioned, holding out the bottle and with red flushing his cheeks Rip took it.

“In my defense we had the decency to go into a closet, at the Time Masters institution every place is a public place.” He said when he noticed the others all with their stares fixed on him.

“What about you two?” Jax asked

“Jefferson I don’t-”

“If you’re not going to play old man, don’t interrupt the game.” Len cut Stein off, he may have opted not to play but that didn’t stop him from sitting on the couch (which had been disinfected more than enough times since four sick people had claimed it) pretending to read a book as he listened to everyone’s confessions.

“Common area in Juvie, they weren’t great at separating the girls from the guys back in ’88, or forward in ’88 I guess.” Len finished and so the gazes shifted to Sara.

“High school bleachers, and empty classroom, and cafeteria.” Everyone looked to be more than a little repulsed by the last one. “Relax, we were in detention so it was after hours.” She defended with an amused smirk; it did nothing to help with the stares.

“Kendra’s turn,” Len finally said, turning the attention off of Sara.

“Ok, never have I ever… accidently set something in this house on fire.” She said and Len had to chuckle at that one, Hawkgirl has a sense of humor.

With a look of shame Ray poured himself a shot and Jax raised his hand as if to ask a question.

“The Waverider counts Jax,” Sara answered without needing him to ask, he sighed and took the bottle from Ray, he’d been hoping his first shot wouldn’t have been for something so innocent.

“Alright, never have I ever…” Rip trailed off as he furrowed his brow in thought, “Never have I ever kissed another man,” he said and so of course Kendra and Sara poured themselves each a shot, obviously they had each kissed a man.

“Does it count if he kissed me?” Len asked just when it looked like no one else was going to reach for the bottle, everyone else looked at him with wide and surprised eyes.

“Yup,” Ray answered, holding the bottle out to Snart with a teasing smirk beginning to play on his lips, not that he could pull it off of course.

“So who was it?” Sara questioned just as Len threw back his drink.

“First time I broke Mick out of solitary, don’t ask how he got in there. He’d been there for two months and was happy to see another person.” He explained; Sara just arched an eyebrow.

“First time?” She questioned,

“The second time was the last, and I made it very clear before picking the lock that if he put his mouth anywhere near me when he got out I’d push him back in and jam the lock.” He explained, clearly embarrassed by the story.

The others laughed and quickly moved to Jax for his turn.

“Never have I ever… never have I ever run away from home.” He decided on, everyone except for Ray and himself took a drink so they all looked to Kendra.

“I was twelve,” she defended before her eyes widened a bit, “Wait, am I supposed to be counting stuff from past lives?” She asked and the others all looked around at each other before shaking their heads, figuring that would make things too complicated here.

“Ok Snart,” Sara said as Len thought on what he should say.

“Never have I ever had anything pierced.” He finally decided on, choosing to keep his first turn relatively safe.

Sara, Jax, and Kendra all drank to that, Len was staring to see why Sara had been so sure she would lose.

“Never have I ever…” she began her turn, everyone became worried when a mischievous grin crossed her face. “Hurt myself having sex.”

“Seriously?” Rip demanded and Sara just laughed at him. When it became clear she wasn’t going to change her statement he growled and went for the bottle.

“Why am I not surprised?” Len drawled in amusement, Rip just rolled his eyes before Ray shamefully took the bottle as well. “Still not surprised,” Len said,

“Awkward,” Sara said in a singsong voice, the look Kendra had on her face made it obvious that Ray had never hurt himself with her.

Their game continued on for a reasonable amount of time before things started to get a little out of hand. Sara should’ve passed out drunk by now but clearly she knows how to hold her liquor. Kendra was leaning heavily against Ray by this point, uselessly considering he was almost as drunk as she was. Rip had quit a while ago and Len was probably one drink away from face planting into the floor.

“We should probably quit soon,” Jax said, being the most sober.

“Not until someone passes out,” Sara argued, casting a sideways glance at the crook sitting next to her.

“Well, it’s his turn.” Jax said, that got Len’s attention.

“Never have I ever… forgotten to use a condom.” He slurred, Jax rolled his eyes at the challenge and Stein closed his book, not that he ever got past the first page.

“Alright, I think we’re done here.” The Professor announced, reaching down to confiscate what was left of the alcohol but Len was too quick and grabbed the bottle.

“We’ll quit, but they still have to answer the question.” He bargained and before Stein even had a chance to argue Sara took the bottle from Len, earning her an incredulous glare from the man who posed as her father when out in public.

“Anybody else?” She asked and despite their drunkenness Kendra and Ray both held out their hands for the bottle.

“I thought I warned you two-” Rip began to scold from where he was sitting partially removed from the circle and watching.

“Not here,” they cut him off in unison; the others exchanged glances but said nothing.

 

* * *

 

“One thing I’m really starting to miss about the 21st century, snow blowers.” Jax complained the next morning as he and Len were shoveling the driveway. The blizzard had left a good six inches of snow and the power was still out in the house.

“I’m pretty sure those have already been invented,” Len informed him, not that it matters. They were using some old shovels that they had found in the barely standing garage next to the house to clear the driveway, it was taking a long time.

“Really?” Jax finally questioned; it’s not that he doesn’t believe it, a snow blower is definitely something that could’ve existed in 1986, but growing up his mom always used a shovel. As did most of their neighbors up until around six years ago.

“Pretty sure,” Len said whilst throwing some more snow off to the side. “I remember I taught Lisa how to use one when she was about seven or eight. That’s 1990 or 1991, still a few years away but I think they had been out for a long time before that.” He said and Jax shrugged in admittance of probably being wrong, had no idea when snow blowers were invented.

 

* * *

 

“Thank God for gas ovens,” Kendra said as she turned on the burner to make pancakes for breakfast.

“How long do you think it’ll be until the power comes back?” Ray asked as he entered the room.

“A better question is how are we going to work on the Waverider with half a foot of snow covering the field between the house and the woods?” Sara asked as she too entered the room, neither Kendra nor Ray had an answer.

“We could-” Ray began but clamped his mouth shut when Sara pointed a stern finger at him.

“Don’t say, give it up for the winter.” She warned him, knowing what it was he had been about to say. “If we take a break from making repairs for the winter we’re not going to go back to it in the spring, it’s never going to get done and we’re never going to get home.” She continued to lecture, Kendra and Ray looked at her in surprise. “You people wanted me to be less pessimistic, this is what me with a little faith looks like.” She continued before turning on her heel and leaving, presumably to question Rip about the problem.

“I think she’s less scary when she’s trying to crush our hope,” Ray said quietly, Kendra laughed a little but for the most part agreed with him.

 

* * *

 

After Rip confirmed that he didn’t have any idea yet on what to do about getting across the field Sara found herself inside of the garage looking around at it’s contents. There wasn’t much in there aside from the car and the two shovels Jax and Len had found earlier. There was an empty and rusted metal trash bin, a few garden tools, a hose, and an axe. There were some more miscellaneous items and finally Sara grinned when she found not exactly what she was looking for, but definitely something of interest.

 

* * *

 

 

“This is a bad idea,” Len deadpanned when that afternoon found him standing at the top of the back hill of the local high school with the rest of the team. After Sara had found a pile of scrap wood that she claimed to be a sled in the garage she talked them all into going to the biggest hill in town to try it out. They had stopped at dollar store on the way and picked up two more cheap sleds that were made of a very flimsy plastic. Right now Len didn’t know which of the three he would bet on disintegrating first.

“For once I agree with Mr. Snart,” Rip put in, Snart glanced over at the Englishman before looking back to the others.

“That’s how you know it’s a bad idea,” He said, the comment was met with a mix of agreeing nods and eye rolls.

“Come on guys, we fly a spaceship throughout all of time, I’m pretty sure we can handle a couple sleds.” Sara argued in defense of her idea.

“Shh!” Rip hissed, stepping into Sara’s personal space. “We do not talk about that when in public!” He hissed; the hill was rather crowded today.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure the six-year-old flying down the hill at thirty miles per hour just figured us out.” Kendra teased as she climbed behind Ray on one of the plastic sleds.

“Just remember our cover,” Rip stressed with a frustrated hand to his beginning to ache head.

“Got it,” Jax said before turning to Kendra with a joking smile, “See ya at the bottom sis.” He challenged, sending himself off as Kendra and Ray laughed.

Len smirked to himself as the happy couple took off after Jax, who let the record show had just of his own free will referred to Kendra as his sister and it didn’t seem to faze him in the least.

Sara took off next, and miraculously her sled didn’t fall apart underneath her.

The three of them came hiking back up laughing as if they were the same age as the children sledding all around them.

“You sure you don’t want to go Snart?” Jax asked, offering the older man his plastic sled.

“Maybe in a little bit,” Len replied and Jax seemed to accept that answer. As the four set off to go down again, however, Len noticed that Stein was staring off at some woman not far from them.

It took the crook a minute but he soon realized that this woman was the cashier down at the supermarket; the one Stein has a thing for.

“Going to say hello to your girlfriend?” He asked in a slightly taunting voice as he came up behind the old man, who jumped a little as he turned around.

“She is not my girlfriend,” he denied, Len chuckled.

“And Jax doesn’t have a thing for the girl down at the garage,” he mocked, “Just go say hi,” He insisted, almost snickering again when he heard Stein gulp.

After a not so gentle nudge by Leonard, Stein found himself walking over to where Ingrid stood watching as a few children went sliding down the hill.

“Hello Ingrid,” Stein said, a bit nervously.

“Oh, hello Martin,” Ingrid said, obviously a little surprised to see him here but happy about it nonetheless. “What brings you here?” She asked,

“Well first big snow of the season, we figured we would take advantage of it and come sledding.” He exclaimed,

“So did we, I thought it would be nice to bring Haley out.” She said, Haley was Ingrid’s granddaughter, of course there’s as much relation between them as there is between Stein and his own supposed ‘daughter.’ Not that Ingrid knows that of course.

Upon the mention of the little girl’s name Stein scanned the hill for her, and quickly found her. She was a cute little thing, three-years-old with strawberry-blonde hair peeking out from under a pink snowcap. She was wearing a baby blue snowsuit that made her look like a walking marshmallow as she struggled to clamor up the snowy hill while dragging her plastic sled behind her.

“Such a sweet little girl,” Stein mused as he watched Haley go sliding back after stepping on a patch of ice. She fell down but picked herself back up, and momentarily Stein found himself wondering if Sara had that determination at such a young age or if it’s something she learned.

He quickly shook the thought away however, telling himself that it’s none of his concern what Sara was like as a child.

Len watched with a smirk, and Rip with an annoyed roll of his eyes, as the professor talked to his friend not too far from them while the rest of the group came trekking back up the hill. Ray and Kendra placed their sled to the side, claiming that they were going to sit in the car and warm up. Once they were out of sight, although he had no idea why he bothered waiting, Len picked up their sled and headed down just behind Sara and Jax. Unfortunately he ended up in Sara’s exact path and considering her sled was no more than an old pile of scrap wood it was much slower than the new plastic ones. So when she came to a stop he was still moving at full speed with no time to turn before he plowed into her.

The impact sent them both tumbling off their vessels and landing with Len strewn across Sara’s stomach, the sleds a few feet away.

“Nice landing crook,” Sara mocked as she shoved him off of her.

“What happened to your reflexes assassin?” He shot back, now sitting beside her in the snow.

She punched him playfully and they both got to their feet.


	11. Tis' the Season (Part 1)

One thing they had known when they moved in was that the closet turned bedroom on the second floor had no heat, and now they were discovering what a problem that is for Sara. Of course the attic doesn’t have heat either, but Kendra and Ray were able to plug in a space heater whereas doing such a thing in Sara’s tiny room would be a fire hazard, and with this group that is a particularly serious issue. So Len didn’t say anything when one of his sweaters went missing from the laundry, he knew what happened to it and she needed it more than him. Stein also left one of his extra blankets on her bed one day while she was out, knowing that she wouldn’t accept it if he offered. But it still wasn’t very helpful and so it didn’t really come as a surprise to either Len or Jax when a knock came at their door on one of the colder nights of December and Len answered it to see Sara standing on the other side, clad in sweatpants and his missing sweater.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asked; she had her arms wrapped around herself.

“Haven’t in three days,” She replied and so with a slight smirk he ushered her inside. She nodded her thanks and crawled into his bed with him right behind her, Jax simply rolled over and went back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s that time of year,” One of the other college professors, Professor Williams, said to Ray while the two were on their lunch hour. “The holiday break is coming up and some of the students are getting sloppy, while some are working twice as hard.” He continued to muse, “Any plans for the holiday’s Raymond?” He asked; Ray froze for just a moment.

Does the team have any plans for the holidays?

No, of course not. After finally getting some snowshoes for trekking across the field to get to the Waverider they hadn’t had much time to discuss the upcoming holidays.

“Probably just stay at home with the family,” He decided to answer however the grin his friend gave him made him think that had been exactly what they other man had been hoping to hear.

“You should stop down to the community center, December 23 is the big Christmas party; everybody goes.”

Ray gave it a moment of thought, and then cracked a smile.

“Sure, why not?”

 

* * *

 

“I can give you a hundred reasons as to why not!” Rip bellowed as the entire team sat around the kitchen table eating dinner that night, leftover spaghetti and meatballs, and Ray had just brought up the idea of the town Christmas party.

“Rip, what’s the harm in going to a Christmas party?” Kendra asked; the captain’s stink eye quickly moved from her boyfriend/fake husband to her.

“One, time drift. We’ve inserted ourselves into this town enough as it is, if we start going to community events we will be that much more susceptible to time drift.” He began his lecture,

“Counter argument,” Sara butted in, her mouth half full of spaghetti. “It’ll look suspicious if we don’t go.” She said before swallowing the food in her mouth, “We keep to ourselves enough as it is, I think we’re all starting to go a little crazy.” She continued,

“I second that,” Len spoke up before looking around at the others, “You all have steady jobs, Sara and I are stuck on the Waverider with Rip all day.” He said and Sara nodded in agreement.

“True, we need a break from each other.” She said, a thought or two crossed everyone’s minds about how the two of them were currently sitting next to each other and had been sharing a bed almost every night for at least a week, but they all decided it would be best to keep their mouths shut.

“Reason number two,” Rip began, “Placing ourselves in a large public gathering such as a community holiday party would practically triple the risk of blowing our cover.” He stressed,

“With all due respect Rip, we go out into the grocery store and our separate jobs on a daily basis. I think we could handle a night celebrating the holiday season.” Stein tried to say.

“Wait, we are celebrating Christmas right?” Kendra questioned and the others all exchanged glances.

“While I do realize that I am the only one here who is a part of the Jewish faith, I was hoping that we could light a menorah in celebration of Chanukah.” Stein requested; the others all looked at him as if the idea that they wouldn’t celebrate his faith equally was insane, because quite frankly it was.

“Of course Martin,” Rip finally said before directing his attention to Kendra. “If you all would like to celebrate Christmas then I won’t stop you, but we are NOT going to that party.” He continued strictly, making himself very clear. Dinner went on like normal for another fifteen minutes before Rip became the first to excuse himself and once he was gone Jax glanced around at the others.

“We’re going to that Christmas party, right?” He asked and everyone else nodded,

“If Rip doesn’t want to go he can stay home by himself.” Kendra said.

 

* * *

 

It was later that night, long after Jax had fallen asleep, that the door to his and Len’s bedroom opened. He’s a very light sleeper, but considering that up until a few months ago he was traveling through time in an attempt to stop a psychotic immortal warlord, he has pretty good reason.

Anyway, it was the door opening that woke him. There was no light from the hallway outside, so he couldn’t see the face of the intruder; not that he didn’t already know. He could just make out the outline of the petit figure, clad in sweatpants and an oversized sweater. Her head turned, he was sure she was looking at him despite that in the dark it was hard to be sure if it was her face or the back of her head now facing him. But he rolled over, a signal to her that said he was ok with her being there, and he listened as she crawled into his roommate’s bed.

_“Yeah, those two are getting real sick of each other.”_ He thought to himself as he drifted off back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

The next day Stein went walking through town with two missions in mind, one being to get a menorah and the second being to do a little Christmas shopping. He knew that aside from lighting his menorah every night, saying his prayers, and maybe making a few holiday foods, he would be celebrating Christmas this year. Of course this isn’t something that he necessarily minds, on the contrary he rather enjoys it. Clarissa had grown up celebrating Christmas and to this day one of his fondest memories comes from the first time she ever brought him along to her family Christmas party. He had always enjoyed the Christmas season even before that night, but celebrating it had been so nice. He loved how it brought everyone together; of course that might have just been Clarissa’s large and rather close family in contrast with his own, rather broken up, family. It was always just his parents and himself, he had one distant aunt whom he’d only ever met a handful of times throughout his life. So for him Chanukah, while it may bring some families together, was just another holiday that he spent at home with his parents. But Christmas, that was a time for stories to be shared and for people to gather together when they normally don’t, hence the reason he was excited when the group decided to go against Rip’s orders in regards to the community party.

 

* * *

 

“Damn,” Len cursed as Sara cracked a grin, throwing in an evil laugh for good measure as she collected her winnings.

It was currently six at night and the two of them were sitting on Snart’s bed playing poker while Jax sat at the desk working on some plans for the Waverider. They had offered to let him join in their game but once he found out they were betting actual money he declined, even if it was coins only.

“That’s three for me,” Sara gloated, Len just scowled and handed her his losing cards.

“You shuffle, I’ll be right back.” He said as he got up,

“Where are you going?” Sara asked, half believing he was going to her room to raid the shoebox under her bed where she kept some emergency money among other things, that way when he lost she would be winning her own money.

“Bathroom,” He called over his shoulder as he walked out, though it didn’t stop her from listening for the distinct click of the bathroom door.

“Hey,” She said to Jax once she was sure Len had indeed gone to the bathroom.

“Yeah?” The younger man looked up from what he was doing, watching her shuffle as the gears turned in her head.

“We should do something for Stein, over Chanukah.” She suggested and Jax nodded.

“I was thinking that too, but what?” He asked, “I think the one present each night thing is more for the kids, plus we’re doing gifts at Christmas.” He said and her eyes grew slightly.

“We’re doing gifts?” She asked, now it was Jax’s turn for his eyes to grow wide.

“Uh, I don’t know. I just figured Ray and Kendra were doing stuff for each other and I got something for Grey. I don’t think we’re doing anything like wake up at six in the morning or anything official.” He stuttered out, in the process of all this stuttering he neglected to mention that he had also gotten some little gifts for her and Snart, and he was planning on getting small stuff for the rest of the team.

Sara huffed out a breath in frustration as she realized that Jax probably had the right idea and that she was going to need to do something for Christmas. Just then Snart came back into the room but no sooner had he sat down did the sounds of happy screams find their way to the window from the front yard. However with this group a scream is never a happy thing so the three of them shared a glance before bolting over to the window.

“What the…?” Len trailed off with his question.

In the front yard, running around in the just starting to set sun, were Ray and Kendra. They were chasing each other with snowballs and laughing, continuously running past what appeared to be a half finished snowman.

“Should we leave them out there or join them?” Sara asked the two boys, Jax shrugged and after a moment of thought Len did the same.

“I kind of want to shove Raymond’s face in the snow,” The older man said before turning for the door, making sure to grab his gun as he left. Sara and Jax looked at each other briefly before they followed their friend.

Once outside Len did shove Ray’s face into the snow, but the action served to trigger a massive snowball fight. It was Sara, Len, and Jax vs. Ray and Kendra. Having three people on one team should’ve been unfair, especially since Len was making good use of his notorious ice gun, but Ray has surprisingly good aim and Kendra took to the sky in order to hit her targets from above.

“What are you doing?!” Rip’s demanding voice eventually came from the porch, ruining the fun like always.

“Snowball fight,” Ray replied with his usual grin.

Rip rolled his eyes and shook his head; he didn’t even want to pretend to want to know what had possessed his team to suddenly act like a group of five-year-olds.

“What if somebody had seen you?” He questioned Kendra, who had just landed.

“Rip, the nearest neighbors are all the way down at the other end of the street. Not to mention that I was staying pretty low,” She argued, Rip just rolled his eyes.

“If you expose yourself…” He warned with a strict finger pointed at her as he headed back into the house, Kendra only rolled her eyes.

“That guys needs a break from this house.” Jax deadpanned and the others nodded in agreement.

“We bringing him to the town Christmas party?” Ray asked, knowing the answer.

“Even if we have to tie him to the roof of the car,” Sara replied.

 

* * *

 

The first ‘break’ Rip ended up taking from the house was forced, no surprise there, and he went with the rest of the team when they decided it was as good a day as any to go pick out a Christmas tree. They went to one of those “cut your own” places, something that excited that excited Sara because her family had always used a plastic tree. Ray had also been using a plastic tree the past few years and so he too was excited to return to getting a real tree for the holiday.

So they walked around the rather large outdoor lot scanning for a tree that they could all agree on as a group. Some of them were more vocal than others, for example Ray was calling out suggestions every two minutes while Len kept his mouth shut nearly the entire time and just walked around with the saw, waiting for someone to tell him which tree he was cutting down.

“What about this one?” Kendra suggested as she looked a tree up and down; Sara, Len, Rip, and Stein came over to see what she was looking at.

“It has good height,” Stein agreed as he looked the tree up and down, however that was when Sara stuck her head out from where she was behind the tree.

“Giant hole in the back,” she warned, the others came around to notice that she was right and there was a rather large, gaping hole of missing branches in the back of the tree.

“Hey guys!” Ray’s voice came shouting from somewhere far off, they all looked around until they spotted the sight of flailing arms bobbing up and down among the trees way at the other end of the lot.

“How old is he again?” Len sneered in annoyance as they headed over to the overly excited man.

“Well considering he was born in 1979, he’s technically seven.” Kendra jokingly replied.

“That explains a lot,” Len agreed, a few minutes later they reached the man in question and found Jax already standing with him.

“I found one,” Ray proudly exclaimed, the exuberance on his face definitely resembling that of a seven-year-old.

“It’s actually not bad,” Jax said to the others.

The tree was slightly taller than Ray himself, and wasn’t too wide but not too scrawny either.

“Looks nice,” Rip approved,

“Am I cutting it down?” Len asked, holding up the saw.

The others all gave a mix of nods and so Len got down and began cutting at the tree. While he was working everybody but Rip seemed to notice which way the tree was going to fall and had the sense to step back.

“Um-” Ray began but he was too late, the tree fell down and took Rip with it. Everyone, included Ray despite his attempt at warning Rip, laughed at the sight of their captain pinned to the ground by a tree.

“Could somebody PLEASE get this tree off me?” The Englishman requested once he managed to get his head free.

“Alright,” Len conceded, taking hold of the bottom end of the tree while Jax moved for the top half. The two of them lifted the tree off Rip and Stein offered a hand to the captain to help him up. During all this Sara, Kendra, and Ray kept laughing; Rip just huffed and dusted himself off.

 

* * *

 

“We didn’t think this through,” Sara observed when they returned to the house and got the tree through the door, but that’s where it ended.

It had been unanimously decided that they would set up the Christmas tree in the living room but they had failed to clear a space for it before leaving.

“So what now?” Len drawled from where he and Ray stood in the hall, holding the tree up.

Kendra moved to join Sara in the living room while the others hung back, no one really sure about what to do.

“We could put it in front of the window,” Sara suggested, turning to Kendra for approval, but the other woman shook her head.

“It’ll be too close to the door,” She argued, “Unless we move the chair,” she suggested and Sara nodded.

“Sounds good,” She said, moving for the folding chair.

“Wait, where are you going to put it?” Kendra asked and Sara shrugged,

“Back in the kitchen where we found it?” She suggested,

“It takes up to much space in there,” she said,

While the girls argued back and fourth over the chair, the tree, and at one point even the couch, Len just leaned his head back against the wall and groaned in frustration.

“How badly do you think Sara will hurt me for making a comment about women over thinking things?” He questioned, he was asking Ray because the boy scout was the nearest person but he didn’t answer at first, mostly because he couldn’t believe that the crook was trying to make small talk with him.

“I don’t know, she can’t get too mad considering it’s your bed she crawls into at two in the morning.” He finally replied and when he did Len quirked an eyebrow, wondering how it was that Raymond knows about that. He decided it wouldn’t be worth getting into, it’s not like it’s supposed to be a secret that Sara can’t handle the cold temperatures of her room and she’s long since stopped complaining about it, so they probably all know about her “solution” to the problem by now.

“Good point,” he said to Ray before directing his attention to the girls. “Just put the chair in the kitchen for now and figure the rest out later, we’ve got a tree in the middle of the hallway at the moment and I think that’s a little more problematic than a folding chair.” He snapped and although both women rolled their eyes at him Kendra did in fact give up the argument and allow for Sara to go and bring the folding chair into the kitchen.


	12. Tis' the Season (Part 2)

“When you said we should do something for Grey over Chanukah, I didn’t think this was what you had in mind.” Jax said as he and Sara made their way through the holiday section of the discount store, buying a few boxes of cheap Christmas decorations.

“We’ll figure out something better, but this is a start.” Sara argued, placing the Star of David ornament into her basket before looking at a cheap set of plastic Christmas balls.

They weren’t involving the others with this Chanukah surprise, not yet anyway. For now it was just the two of them, for reasons that neither would say out loud because they sound like fuel for Rip’s time drift paranoia; Sara’s reason more than Jax’s. Really, there is no REAL reason as to why it’s specifically the two of them putting a little extra effort into the old man’s faith and not any of the others. Jax is doing it because Stein is his partner, but more than that he’s acted like a father figure or at least a grandfather figure to him ever since they became Firestorm. Sara, on the other hand, has reasons that aren’t so different but at the same time would send Rip over the edge. Stein, when they’re out in public, is posing as her father. As far as the world is concerned she’s his daughter and as such she feels almost like she owes it to him to try and do something for Chanukah, which considering the world also thinks he raised Ray she should really rope him into this little scheme as well.

“Can’t you read his mind?” She asked; if they knew what Stein was thinking in regards to the holiday it sure would make planning something for him a lot easier, but Jax shook his head.

“Doesn’t work like that,” he told her, “I can only get a sense of his extreme emotions, or you know, cut myself so the marks show up on him. But I can’t tell exactly what he’s thinking,” he said before he stopped with a thoughtful look on his face.

“What?” Sara asked,

“You know, I haven’t felt anything lately with our psychic link and Kendra lost her powers when you guys were stuck in 1958, because of the time drift thing. Do you think…?” He trailed off, unable to finish his question.  
“I don’t know,” Sara said, an equally thoughtful expression now on her face. “Funny thing about time drift; you don’t even notice it has you until your gone. Only way to realize it is for someone to snap you out of it.” She said, remembering her time in the fifties.

Jax looked almost heartbroken at the description, at the idea of slowly losing himself in this new life without realizing it. But he didn’t have time to think about it, because it was at that moment he and Sara ventured around the corner and into the next isle where they found Jackie of all people bent down and looking at books on a shelf.

At first Jax didn’t even recognize her; he rarely ever saw her outside of work. In fact he had only ever seen her outside of work on that day not long after Thanksgiving when she’d come to the house to check on him. That day she had still been in her work clothes and her hair, although down, was frizzy and matted from being tied back all day. Now she was wearing a pair of plain white sneakers in place of her father’s hand me down boots, bright blue pants, a red sweater with the images of flowers on it, and her hair kept out of her face with a bulky headband but other than that flowing freely down to just above her waist where it stopped. She had noticed him by now and gave him a smile; meanwhile Sara practically shoved him forward.

“Hey,” Jackie said, addressing both of them.

“Hey, Jax if you need me, I’ll be in the next isle.” Sara said before leaving him alone with his friend, he rolled his eyes at what she was doing.

“Sorry about her,” He apologized to Jackie, it was painfully obvious that she was also able to see what Sara was doing, but she laughed at it anyway.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “You guys doing Christmas shopping?” She asked and Jax shrugged.

“A little, you?” He asked; eyeing her basket, which contained a few off brand comic books.

“Sort of, dad doesn’t know how to shop so he gives me money to buy my own Christmas presents that he can wrap and put his name on.” She explained and Jax had to chuckle at that.

“Sounds like your dad has a pretty good system,” He joked,

“Yeah, kind of ruins the surprise but no systems is perfect.” She shrugged,

“Well, there’s always your mom.” Jax said and his friend nodded.

“True,” she agreed, “Are you guys going to the big Christmas party downtown?” She asked.

“Yeah, you?” He asked,

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile Kendra was sitting in the back room of the restaurant counting what she had made in tips for the day, waiting for Ray and Stein to come pick her up.

“Five dollars and seventy cents, not bad for a day shift.” One of the other waitresses, Rebecca, mused as she came in and started slipping on her coat.

“Can’t argue with you there,” Kendra said but Rebecca seemed to pick up on her distracted voice.

“Anything you want to talk about?” She asked intuitively, Rebecca was good like that.

She’s the most senior member of the wait staff and the co-owner of the restaurant. She knows what she’s doing and she likes to know what’s going on in the personal lives of her employees, not in a nosey way but rather in a very protective and motherly way; ironic since she has a rough relationship with her own daughter.

“It’s nothing,” Kendra insisted but Rebecca merely pulled up the second chair of the small folding table.

“You’re a terrible liar,” she mused, Kendra just sighed and smiled awkwardly.

“I don’t know what to get Ray for Christmas,” she admitted and Rebecca quirked an eyebrow.

“That’s it?” She asked a little insensitively, it’s moments like this when Kendra understands why Rebecca’s daughter has issues with her. She’s a really a sweet woman but sometimes she’s a little too quick to give her opinion.

“It’s our first Christmas since we got married, and the first one we’ll be spending with our conjoined family.” She lied, well partially lied anyway considering the two Christmas’s they spent together in the fifties.

“Hmm,” Rebecca hummed in thought, “What was the first date he ever took you on?” She finally asked but Kendra only looked quizzically at her.

“What?” She finally asked,

“Well clearly a lot has changed for the two of you in the last year, do something for him that lets him know not everything has.” She suggested and upon taking a moment to think it over, Kendra found herself smiling at the idea.

 

* * *

 

 

“So tell me, what exactly do you have against the holiday’s?” Len questioned Rip as the two of them were working on the Waverider. At this point the engine room was nearly repaired, but everything else on the ship was still a complete and utter wreck.

“I don’t have anything against the holiday’s, I just haven’t celebrated in a while.” He excused but Len looked at him over his shoulder, an inquisitive expression upon his face. “I come from a world ravaged by a ruthless warlord, not exactly the kind of place where you can tell your children about Santa Claus.” He admitted and Len turned back to what he was doing, not that he had any intentions of letting the conversation drop.

“I was eight when I stopped believing in Santa,” he confessed, “Given the childhood I had, I’m actually impressed I made it that long. After dad went to prison mom tried to make things like Christmas special, must have broken her heart when I asked for the same thing every year.” He reminisced, tightening a bolt in the wall the entire time that he spoke.

“Your father’s return?” Rip questioned and Len sneered, hating that he had ever wanted his father anywhere near him.

“When I finally got what I wanted, I wished more than anything that he would get caught again; got that wish a few times but it never lasted long enough.” He continued, “Funny thing is Rip, my life sucked.” He deadpanned, finally turning to look the captain in the eyes. “But at Christmas, well my life sucked even more. First it was my dreams getting crushed every year, then I was watching as the same thing happened to my sister.” He said before he gave a small chuckle, “I still remember Lisa’s first Christmas,” he began, the angry grin on his face a tell tale sign that this story is anything but happy. “I was twelve, almost thirteen, and Lisa was only a few months old. Dad hadn’t tried hurting her yet, at this point that was only for mom and me. But he was still a long way from giving two shits about her, same goes for mom.” He snarled at the memory, losing himself somewhere in it. “She had been crying for hours and I couldn’t take it anymore, I got up and went to her room to get her. I couldn’t get her to go back to sleep so I thought maybe a bottle would shut her up, put her back in the crib and left to go see if we had any formula. But just as I got to the stairs I found mom and dad standing at the bottom, mom had a suitcase.” He stopped there, visibly trying to pull himself back out of the memory.

“Your mother left on Christmas Eve?” It was more of a question than a statement that came from Rip, because he just couldn’t believe that someone could be so cruel.

“Technically she left on Christmas, it was well past midnight.” Len corrected, his usual icy mask sliding back into place. “Dad spent the day drunker than usual, which is saying something. Lisa still thinks mom left weeks earlier than she actually did, and I spent every year after that trying to make sure my sister didn’t turn into one of those people who gets depressed over Christmas.” He said and Rip was quiet for a minute or two as the story processed.

“Why are you telling me this?” He finally asked,

“Just because you’ve had some pretty bad Christmas’s doesn’t mean they all have to be like that.” Len replied as he began to leave the bridge, and Rip couldn’t fight the smirk that began playing on his lips as the crook walked away, if he isn’t careful he just might add hero to his résumé.

 

* * *

 

“You know what we need?” Ray asked later that night as they were all decorating the tree.

“I’m afraid to ask,” Len said from where he was positioned by the radio he had pirated from the dump after leaving Rip on the Waverider, he’d finally fixed it and now he was slowly turning the dials as he hunted for some decent music.

“An ornament that says _Legend’s first Christmas,_ ” The younger man replied, Len merely rolled his eyes before the tune of _Jingle Bells_ assaulted his ears.

“Ooh, leave it on!” Kendra called from the kitchen where she and Jax were baking cookies, he rolled his eyes again but obeyed her request and moved back to the couch to sit beside Sara, who was waiting for Ray to finish stringing the lights.

“Well the tree’s not on fire yet,” she said quietly as he took his seat.

“YET, being the key word in that sentence.” Len said with a laugh, “Knowing Raymond, I’m sure something will have caught fire by the time Christmas is over.” He continued,

“You know I can hear you two,” Ray pointed out. Somewhat offended by their teasing.

“Don’t care,” Len said,

“Hey, you’re on holiday break right?” Sara asked Ray suddenly,

“Yeah,” he answered her, more than a bit curious as to why she needed to know.

“Cool, Jax doesn’t have to go into work the day after Christmas so the three of us are taking a road trip.” She said, now both Ray and Len were very confused.

“Why?” Ray finally asked, “And where are we going?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Sara promised, she had finally figured out a decent enough Chanukah gift for Stein but they needed to drive a little ways to get it.

 

* * *

 

“I can not BELIEVE you dragged me down here!” Rip exclaimed a few nights later as the group walked down the sidewalk to the community center; he had known that the team was going to be disobeying his warnings and attending tonight’s holiday party but he didn’t think they’d actually get him to join them.

“Dragged you? We asked you to come and you said no, we were going to leave you at the house but you changed your mind; something about making sure we don’t blow our cover.” Jax half mocked, half reminded the captain. Coming to the party may not have been his idea but he had come of his own free will.

“Yes well, I didn’t want you all coming back to the house and telling me that something gave us away.” He excused, a little embarrassed by the reminder that he actually chose to tag along to this.

Nobody believed this excuse; obviously, they all knew that Rip really wanted to get out of the house. But they chose not to comment on it and instead simply headed inside.

 

* * *

 

The party wasn’t much. The main room of the community center was a big cafeteria and that’s where the celebration was being held. There was hot chocolate and a table set up with snacks such as cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. There were Christmas lights tacked to the walls along with some streamers and a raffle going for the little kids. Speaking of the little kids, Len nearly tripped over one who was particularly small as she ran passed him just as the group walked in. She looked up as if to apologize to him, and then quickly ran if to continue chasing her friend.

“Raymond, Martin, good to see you.” Professor Williams, the man who had first invited the group to come to this, found them quickly and came up to shake Ray’s hand followed by Stein.

“Merry Christmas Albert,” Stein greeted as he shook his colleague’s hand. Most other members of the group took this time to head off to their own devices but Kendra remained at Ray’s side for the time being so that he could introduce her to his friend, Sara tried to get away but Stein grabbed her elbow and pulled her back. “Albert, I would like for you to meet my daughter, Sara.” He introduced her before she had the chance to threaten him, just as Ray and Kendra walked off too so she was forced to plaster a fake smile on her face and shake the older man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you,” she said politely,

“You as well, I work more closely with your cousin than your father but I’ve heard many great things about you.” He said and at that both Sara and Stein looked to be very confused. Sara looked at Stein but he merely shrugged; sure he had brought Sara up in conversation with the other professors but he did so with every member of their team, and besides, he was getting the feeling that Albert wasn’t talking about their brief chats.

“From Ray?” Sara finally asked, Professor Williams laughed as if her confusion were a joke.

“You sound surprised?” He asked, when neither of their expressions changed he seemed to realize that they were both, in fact, very surprised. “Well, um, your cousin thinks very highly of you.” That was all he said before he awkwardly turned around and walked off; Sara and Stein exchanged glances when he did.

“Let’s find Raymond,” he decided and with a nod the two of them headed off.

Meanwhile it didn’t take Jax long to find his new best friend. She was standing in a back corner nursing a cup of hot chocolate and looking almost as board as Rip, who for the record was sitting at a table avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“You know when you said you wouldn’t miss the party, I thought you’d spend it doing more than standing in a corner.” He joked as he approached her; her face seemed to brighten considerably upon noticing him.

“Hey,” she said happily,

“Hey, so seriously, why are you in a corner all by yourself?” He asked and her smile fell just a little.

“Sorry, um, after high school all my friends moved out of town and they said they were coming back tonight but… they all bailed.” She said with a shake of her head.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He apologized, much to his surprise her smile came back.

“Don’t be, at least I’ve got one friend now right?” She asked, looking up at him with her big green eyes and hopeful smile, he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

So while Jax was talking to Jackie, Stein and Sara finally found the table the rest of the group had claimed and quickly made their way over.

“Ray, can you come here for a second?” Sara asked from behind her ‘cousin’, who looked over his shoulder at her with slight confusion but nodded and followed the two away from the rest of the now very confused group.

“What?” He asked once the two of them had led him out into the empty hall outside of the cafeteria.

“We were just wondering what exactly it is that you’ve told Professor Williams about Sara?” Stein questioned, sure they had put some more depth into their cover in the months since arriving in 1986, but that didn’t stop Stein from worrying about Ray’s big mouth.

At first Ray didn’t seem to know what it was they were talking about, but then his face changed and it was obvious that it dawned on him.

“Nothing that I shouldn’t have, relax.” He assured them, not that they were convinced. “Ok, you know Dr. Brown?” He asked Stein and the older man rolled his eyes.

“Yes, the English Professor who feels the need to spread gossip about everyone.” He acknowledged and Ray nodded.

“Well the other day I was in a meeting, and she was there. Before the meeting started she was in there with one of the other professors and they were talking. She asked me how Kendra was and being polite I said that she was fine. Then she asked me about what Sara was up to, so I told her that she’s been working odd jobs in town. Then, a few minutes later when she thought I wasn’t listening, Dr. Brown started whispering to her friend trash talk about Sara.” When he said that the faces of both Sara and Stein changed from very accusing to more curious, “She was calling Sara a deadbeat; for not having a steady job and relying on her father. So I told her to back off and when she didn’t I gave her Sara’s part of our cover story.” He confessed, by now seeming to be more than a little embarrassed.

Sara’s background, as far as the cover story is concerned, is that she had been traveling for the past few years as a bail bonds worker. After all, it isn’t exactly plausible that all seven of them had been living together for very long before moving since there was no official reason they had moved here. So the idea was that Stein and Rip had an antique shop that just went out of business around the time Ray and Kendra got married, Jax had been living with Kendra since the death of their mother when he was seventeen, Len lost his job six months ago and needed a place to crash, and they called Sara home to help out.

“I told her that Sara left her job to come help us, and that now that most things are settled her employer won’t take her back. So she’s working odd jobs and trying to find a steady job nearby because she doesn’t want to leave her family, that is the cover right?” He asked and Sara nodded,

“Yes,” she said before punching Ray lightly on the arm.

“Ow!” He said reflexively, rubbing his arm despite the fact that it didn’t really hurt all that much.

“Thanks for standing up for me.”

The three of them returned to the party and Stein quickly found Ingrid with her granddaughter, who was clutching a baby doll and also appeared to be on a sugar high. While the two of them talked Ray returned to the table with Sara not far behind him, but it wasn’t long before she realized that little Haley was following her. The little girl giggled upon being discovered and ran to the other side of Sara, when she looked down at her again she only repeated the action. Glancing over at Stein and his ‘girlfriend’, so caught up in conversation, Sara decided that they probably didn’t need the hyperactive toddler running circles around them so she instead crouched down to the little girl’s height.

“So what’s your dolly’s name?” She asked the little girl.

 

* * *

 

“Well I didn’t think it was possible, but you actually look like you don’t totally hate being here.” Len commented to Rip, the Englishman had some semblance of a smile on his face as he stood over by the hot chocolate after having been at the party for roughly two hours.

“Yes well, I suppose I have you to thank for that.” He admitted, taking a sip of his cocoa.

“How do you figure?” Len drawled,

“Christmas wasn’t always a time of sulking for me, Mr. Snart, I loved it very much as a child.” He admitted and Len frowned.

“But then Savage happened,” It wasn’t a question; it didn’t have to be when he already knew the answer.

“I thought about filling Jonas’s head with thoughts of Santa Claus once, but he never would’ve believed it. All those stories had turned to mere myths decades before I was born; Jonas would’ve stopped believing before he even turned five.” He confessed but Len only frowned.

“The world is a hopeless place Rip,” he finally said, “We’re born, we try to figure out why we were born, and then we die.” The way he said it so bluntly caused Rip to look at him in confusion, an emotion almost everyone in the group was experiencing tonight. “That being said we do make an impact while we’re here, and for that you need hope.” He continued, leaving Rip even more confused.

“You just said-”

“I said the world is hopeless, not the people. So do me a favor when we save your son; tell him the second part of that.” He advised and so Rip nodded.

“Alright, but you need to do me a favor.” He said,

“I am doing you a favor,” Len argued but Rip ignored him completely.

“When you have a child; don’t teach them that first part.” He requested and Len chuckled.

“Joke’s on you, I’ll never have a child.” He said but Rip just put his cup to his mouth.

“Whatever you say,” Len looked like he was about to argue again, but then he noticed Rip was staring at something over the rim of his cup. So instead he followed his gaze and rolled his eyes in extreme annoyance when he realized where Rip had gotten the idea of him ever having a kid.

Not so far away was the table their group had been coming a going from all night, and sitting there right now was Sara. She had somehow ended up in charge of Ingrid’s surrogate granddaughter at the start of the party and now, finally, all of the energy that the little girl possessed had worn off. So she was sitting quietly on Sara’s lap, repeatedly trading off a pen with her that told Len they were probably playing tic-tac-toe or some such game.

“Grow up,” he sneered at Rip, ignoring the laugh that escaped the Englishman’s mouth as he stalked away.

He ended up over at the table with Sara, to Rip’s amusement no doubt.

“Hey,” she greeted him when he planted himself in the seat across from her.

“Hey,” he replied,

“St- my dad, says we might head out soon.” She informed him, choosing at the last minute not to use Stein’s name just in case the three-year-old nodding off in her arms heard and accidently ratted her out.

“Sounds good,” Len agreed.

“Sawa,” Haley said quietly, handing Sara the pen to take her turn in their game.

“I know, I know.” Sara assured the young girl as she took the pen and marked an X on their paper.

Len watched the two of them for a minute, and as much as he would hate to admit it he rather liked the way Sara looked with a sleepy toddler on her lap. She looked so calm, and yet more protective than ever. The young girl had her head resting comfortably against Sara’s chest and Sara had one arm securely placed along the side of her little friend’s body to make sure she didn’t topple over. He could very easily see The Canary becoming a mother one day, after all this chaos is over mind you. He knew that he would want to be around to see that, and he tried to deny the level of involvement he was finding himself hoping to have in such an event.

“What?” Sara asked when she noticed his staring, Haley having now grown too tired for their game and decided to close her eyes.

“I was just thinking,” He drawled, needing to come up with an excuse and fast. “I was in Rip’s office the other day and apparently he does have hard copy files of the important things, our team included.” He began, the look on her face showing that she was listening. “Did you ever plan on telling us that you’re a Christmas baby?” He asked and she huffed out a snicker.

“Technically I won’t be a Christmas baby until next year,” she said to him, reminding him that she hasn’t actually been born yet. “I don’t know; I don’t think I’ve celebrated my birthday, or anything, since The Gambit went down. It was pretty easy to loose track of the days.” She said and he chuckled, and that was when Stein came over with Ingrid not far behind him.

“The rest of us are heading out,” Stein told the two at the table.

“Meaning if we want a ride home, we better come with you.” Len drawled, getting up as Sara handed Haley over to Ingrid.

“Thank you for watching her,” the older woman said,

“No problem.” Sara assured with a smile, she and Len grabbed their jackets and followed Stein out.

 

* * *

 

When they got back to the house everyone split up in various directions but unfortunately for Len and Sara they both headed for the living room, which undoubtedly was going to end in a fight over the remote.

“Stop!” Kendra shouted just as the two of them reached the doorway,

“What?” Sara asked, everyone now looking at Kendra who simply pointed to the top of the doorway with a mischievous grin.

She had hung mistletoe right above where the crook and the assassin were standing.

“Well it’s happened,” Len said in with an annoyed roll of his eyes. “I’ve finally found people crazy enough to actually uses mistletoe,” He sighed, Sara’s expression mirrored his own.

“Come on, you guys know the rules.” Ray encouraged, eating a bag of candy he had gotten from the party like it was popcorn and he was watching a really good movie.

With a sigh Len looked down at Sara, silently asking if she wanted to honor tradition or make the others pay for this little joke. Personally he would be ok with either option, but when she smirked playfully at him he knew which one she’d chosen.

“Come on Snart,” She teased, “It can be my birthday present.”


	13. Christmas Morning

Jax woke up just as the sun was rising that Christmas morning, though it wasn’t necessarily his fault. Of course he got up at the crack of dawn every Christmas when he was a kid, but as he got older his mother decided she wanted to keep that tradition going and made a point to wake him up just as early. So when his eyes fluttered open hours before they normally do he chose to blame his mom for wiring it into his system that “Christmas” means, “wake up before the sun does”.

Rolling over he found himself looking at Len and Sara asleep together in Len’s bed as usual. Unlike usual, however, he has no memory of her coming in last night. He shook his head and decided he had probably just grown so used to her sneaking in that it no longer registers with his mind as being a threat. Ironic, considering it’s the trained assassin sneaking into his room in the middle of the night that his mind no longer finds threatening.

Just then Sara’s eyes fluttered open as well and she stared back at him.

“Merry Christmas,” She whispered across the room, using one of her hands to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Merry Christmas,” Jax replied, as Sara shifted her arm the motion woke Len who moaned into his pillow.

“Happy Birthday,” He said to Sara,

“Oh yeah, Happy Birthday.” Jax echoed the words; none of them had known that Sara was born on Christmas until she told them after referring to her mistletoe kiss with Snart as a birthday present.

“Thanks guys,” She said with a laugh, then proceeded to practically roll off the side of the bed. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and see how long it takes the others to wake up.”

 

* * *

 

The answer was not long at all. Ray and Kendra came down almost immediately following the three, as did Rip and Stein.

“What is everyone doing up so early?” Rip asked as he and Stein entered the living room, normally they would’ve headed for the kitchen but everyone else who lives in this house was currently seated throughout the living room.

“It’s Christmas morning, kind of a force of habit.” Kendra explained from the couch; actually she still appeared to be half asleep and it’s probable that she could’ve slept for another hour or so if it weren’t for her boyfriend and his childlike tendencies.

They all looked around at each other awkwardly for a moment, as if each one was silently asking who was going to be the first to go for one of the presents that had been placed under the tree at various points over the past month.

“So are we just going to sit here and stare at each other or can I go back to bed?” Len finally asked and so Sara, who was sitting closest to the tree, reached over and grabbed the nearest present.

“This one’s for Kendra,” she announced, handing the present to Jax who handed it over to Kendra.

“Thanks,” she said quietly before reading the tag on the package. “From, Ray.” She read aloud and then carefully began tearing at the wrapping paper.

Even before she had the paper off it was obvious to everyone that the box was a clothing box, but Sara at least was secretly hoping that Ray hadn’t actually gotten Kendra clothes; remembering a few Christmas’s gone wrong thanks to her dad’s poor taste in clothes for her mom. But Kendra opened the box to reveal the item inside was a sweatshirt from the college Ray and Stein had found work at, so it could only go so wrong.

“Please don’t tell me you did all your Christmas shopping at the campus store?” Len asked when he saw the gift; Ray looked somewhat embarrassed but didn’t say anything.

“Well I think it’s very thoughtful,” Kendra said as she leaned over and gave Ray a kiss on the cheek.

While the two of them were caught up in basically their own little world, Sara grabbed another present, this one for Rip from the team.

“You got me a Christmas present?” He asked skeptically as the package was handed to him.

“Don’t worry, we outvoted Sara and Mr. Snart.” Stein assured his roommate with a somewhat amused grin, mostly at the looks of protest decorating Sara and Len’s faces.

“For the record it was Sara’s idea, and I wasn’t the only one to agree with it at first.” Len defended, glancing over at Ray who looked ashamed of himself for the second time in five minutes.

“Do I even want to know?” Rip questioned and Len shrugged.

“We wanted to get you a book,” He said innocently,

“You wanted to get him _A Christmas Carol._ ” Jax ratted out.

With a roll of his eyes Rip unwrapped the present in his hands, half expecting the team to have gotten him some other sort of joke gift such as a watch or a VHS tape of _Back to the Future_ , they really had fun with that movie night. But when he opened the gift he was blown away by what he saw staring back at him. It was a picture of Jonas, Miranda, and himself; one of the very few photographs he had of the three of them together and so he normally kept it in the top drawer of his office desk. Under normal circumstances he would probably be at a level beyond pissed that his team had not only gone through his private property but also stolen on of his most precious photographs. But now that he was looking at it framed by a beautiful wooden frame he could only feel grateful.

“Found that while I was looking through your files on us,” Len admitted when it became very clear that Rip wasn’t going to speak, but he was happy with the gift.

“We thought it could use a frame,” Kendra said, beaming with pride.

As the morning went on the remainder of the presents were passed around. Kendra had also given Ray a framed picture, but this one was of the two of them on their first anniversary in 1959.

“Where did you get this?” Ray asked, joy written all over his face because as far as he was concerned Kendra couldn’t have cared less about any of their ‘old junk’ even if she tried.

“I had it in my purse when we left 1960, the lady at the copy center blew it up for me.” She explained, the once wallet sized photo was now a standard 3-1/2 X 5.

“She didn’t question that it was almost forty years old?” Rip worriedly asked but Kendra shook her head.

“It doesn’t look forty, I just told her we used an old camera.” She explained and Rip nodded, any other day he might have lectured that he couldn’t believe they had taken pictures of themselves in 1958 in the first place but for today he decided to keep his mouth shut.

The next present was for Jax and it turned out to be a new set of tools from Stein, something he could use both here in 1986 and on the Waverider. Stein also gave Sara a blanket that looked like it would be very warm, he said that now she can sleep in her own room. Nobody saw of course, but Len frowned at that and briefly considered stealing the blanket. Speaking of Len, he was surprised when he received a Christmas present from Sara; she said it was a thank you for letting her sleep in his bed.

“Really?” He asked with an arched eyebrow directed at the blonde, removing the wrapping paper revealed the gift to be a poker set.

“I figure this way you don’t have to lose actual money.” She defended with a shrug, the others all laughed at that and Len rolled his eyes.

“There’s a present by your knee, in blue wrapping paper.” He said and so Sara looked over at the one he was talking about and she almost laughed upon seeing the shimmering purple letters on the paper that read: _Happy Birthday._

“You already gave me my birthday present,” she reminded him, a half smug grin on her face and he smirked.

She unwrapped the present to reveal that it was a clothing box, and just like when Kendra opened her first present she became a little apprehensive. But opening the box revealed that inside was a second box wrapped in the same birthday paper.

“You’re one of those people?” She teased while the others laughed as she unwrapped the second box.

“Don’t worry, I only had the two boxes.” Len said as if it were a consolation.

The second one was much smaller, and if Sara didn’t know better she would’ve said it was a jewelry box. Well, apparently, she actually doesn’t know better. She tore the paper off the small box to reveal that it actually was a jewelry box and when she opened it she was half expecting for something, though he had no idea what, to pop out and cause her some type of pain. But instead the box contained a silver chain with a single, silver pendant in the shape of a bird on it. It was obviously a fairly cheap necklace, but it was beautiful nonetheless. She opened her mouth to say thank you, but just as she did she felt the heavy stares of the rest of the group on her and Len and it suddenly felt like one wrong word could send everybody the wrong idea. Briefly she wondered if that’s what he had intended, but she didn’t have much time to think it over before Jax decided to rescue her and handed a present over to Stein, taking the focus off of Sara.

They finished with the last of the presents, or they thought they did, when Jax noticed one last box with Kendra’s name on it. He handed it to her and revealed it was a second one from Ray, so she looked at him in confusion.

“I meant to give you this back in 1960,” he admitted, “I’ve been waiting for a good time ever since.” He continued to explain sincerely. Sara smirked, but chose to keep the dirty joke contained to inside her head.

“Well there’s no better time than Christmas,” she remarked instead, encouraging Kendra to unwrap the small box.

It was from a jewelry store, but that didn’t surprise anyone. What did surprise them was Kendra’s expression when she opened the box; more specifically the way her hand moved to cover her now open mouth. Stein was standing behind the couch where she and Ray sat, so he could see what was in the box, and he looked almost as surprised as Kendra.

“What is it?” Jax asked, though he was starting to get the feeling that he already knew what it was.

“Kendra,” Sara said a little more sternly, her friend looked like she wasn’t going to be getting over whatever shock she was in without some help.

Finally blinking herself back to reality, Kendra turned the box so that the others could see the engagement ring inside. Sara started smiling, as did Rip, Jax’s mouth fell open ever so slightly, and Len was looking at Jax to watch for his reaction.

“Wow, maybe doing this in front of everyone was a bad idea.” Ray mused, the stunned silence of the group growing awkward.

“Ray I… I don’t know what to say,” Kendra finally stammered out. At first, Ray looked to be slightly disappointed by this reaction but that was something Kendra quickly caught onto so she made up her mind. “Yes,” she said, brightening Ray expression back to full strength and then some. “Yes,” she said again.

 

* * *

 

 

“You ok kid?” Len asked later on when he found Jax in their room, sitting at his desk and going over schematics for the Waverider as he usually does in his free time.

“Yeah… why?” He replied; he appeared to be genuinely confused by the question.

“Really?” Snart pressed, despite believing Jax’s claim that he was ok. “Because Raymond and Kendra just decided to make their part of the cover story real, and I know you had a thing for her.” He further explained and although Jax sighed he did so with an expression that told Len he really is ok with this.

“I really am fine,” he insisted, “I think at some point in the last few months I got over her; I’m happy for her and Ray.” He continued and Captain Cold gave him one of his very rare, but very real, smiles.

Len believed every word out of his roommate’s mouth, and he was sure that a certain brown haired mechanic might have something to do with that. But, for whatever reason, he opted not to tease the kid and instead just turned around headed downstairs to see what the others might be doing.

 

* * *

 

“I’m shocked,” Stein announced as he entered his and Rip’s room to find the time captain doing a bit of cleaning.

“Why is that Martin?” He asked, glancing up briefly at the older man.

“Raymond and Kendra have decided to get married; I expected you to be lecturing them up and down about the dangers of time drift.” He exclaimed and Rip chuckled.

“Believe it or not Martin, I was not the first time master to fall in love.” He said and to be honest that did come as a little bit of a surprise to Stein. “Time drift can have many effects on people but I think that you and I are both well aware that Kendra and Ray were a couple of two years when we crash landed here, something Ray even acknowledged this morning.” He pointed out and Stein did have to acknowledge that, although he could’ve counteracted the argument with the fact that Ray had suffered some time drift back in 1960. However he didn’t want to, because it is so very rare that something good like this comes along for their group without it being immediately ruined by insane bounty hunters/warlords out to kill them.

So if Rip is letting this development occur without protest then he will do the same, at the very least Ray and Kendra deserve it.

 

 

* * *

 

They weren’t going to go out to eat on Christmas; most places are closed anyway. But Christmas dinner quickly became a disaster when Ray insisted that he would cook.

“Remind me again why we even let you in here?” Len demanded as he once again iced the flames Ray had created while the other man cowered in a ball on the counter. “I knew I should’ve gotten you a fire extinguisher for Christmas,” He continued, Ray slowly coming down from the counter behind him.

“I swear it wasn’t my fault! Some of the tin foil fell off and started burning!” He defended, not much of a defense at all. Their ham had burned beyond all recognition and Len was counting them lucky that they hadn’t needed to call the fire department this time.

“Out!” He finally snarled, not looking at Ray and pointing towards the door.

“But-”

“Out!” He repeated, this time Ray listened.

 

* * *

 

“So…” Kendra trailed off, her voice having that knowing tone that made Sara sigh in annoyance. The two of them were currently flipping through the channels to see which station was playing the best Christmas movie; Ray had just gone upstairs to hide in his room after Len kicked him out of the kitchen.

“So…” Sara echoed, wishing that she could avoid the upcoming conversation.

“You and Snart?” She asked, well more like pried in Sara’s opinion.

“Me and Snart, what about you and Ray?” The blonde countered, maybe if she could just throw the attention off of herself.

“Ray and I have been together for two and a half years-”

“But now you’re engaged,” Sara interrupted,

“Beside the point,” Kendra quickly argued, “Something’s going on between you and Snart.” She insisted but Sara snorted in disagreement.

“Snart and I are friends, maybe even best friends, but that’s it.” She insisted; she knew Kendra was about to argue of course. “Look, I know what you’re going to say. I sleep in his bed and he gave me a very nice necklace, one he claims he didn’t even steal, for my birthday. So obviously there has to be something more than friendship going on between us.” She predicted and at least Kendra had the decency to look down at her lap in embarrassment.

“Look; I sleep in there because my room is freezing and he doesn’t care about having me in there. He gave me a birthday present because he feels bad I haven’t celebrated my birthday since I was twenty; he’s just being a friend.” She insisted and Kendra dropped the conversation in order to return to channel flipping, but she did so with a look that said, _“Whatever you say.”_


	14. Surprise!

Sara’s room was still cold as ever that night, but the blanket Stein gave her was warm and should’ve allowed for her to finally sleep in there.

Should’ve.

Unfortunately she is still directly beneath Kendra and Ray, and she really should’ve known that they would be spending the night celebrating their engagement. She groaned out a long sigh of annoyance and waited a few moments to see if the noise from her upstairs neighbors would quiet down. When it didn’t she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, wrapped her new blanket around her shoulders, and got out of bed. She left her room and crept carefully down the hall, as she does almost every night, then turned the knob of Jax and Leonard’s door until it opened and she could sneak inside.

When she entered she first looked at Jax, whose brown eyes she couldn’t see in the dark but she knew he was awake. As if to confirm her suspicions he rolled over to face away from her just as she shut the door. Without a word she walked over to Len’s bed where she found him asleep, but he’s a light sleeper and she knew he had at least briefly opened his eyes when she walked in. She pulled back his blankets before spreading her own out over the bed and climbing in next to him.

“Your blanket is warm, why aren’t you in your bed?” He asked as she settled in.

“Complaining crook?” She asked with a teasing smirk, she could feel him smirking in response and as if to prove it he wrapped an arm around her waist, something he had only ever before done in his sleep.

“Not at all, just wondering.” He said,

“Kendra and Ray are at it again,” she admitted and he took his arm back, rolled over, and took most of her blanket with him.

“Enough said, goodnight.” He said and she couldn’t help but chuckle before grabbing back some of her blanket.

“Goodnight.”

 

* * *

 

“All right, where are we going?” Ray asked at dawn the next morning as he, Sara, and Jax piled into the car. The plan was for them to head out and get this Chanukah gift for Stein before he woke up.

“Bar Harbor, Maine.” Sara replied from the passenger seat, Ray spun his head to look at her as if she were insane.  
“What?!” He demanded, “That’s three and a half hours away!” He continued to exclaim.

“Why do you think three of us are going?” She asked, Ray rolled his eyes and started the car, knowing that if they want to make it back by nightfall then they had better get a move on.

“What are we even getting that we have to go all the way to Maine?” He asked as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Some kind of Jewish dessert,” Jax replied from the backseat.

“Are you kidding me?” Ray asked, taking his eyes off the road just long enough to glare at Sara. “You’re making us drive three and a half hours for cupcakes?” He demanded,

“Not cupcakes, Chocolate Zeppole.” She corrected, “We couldn’t think of anything and it’s not like we can Google it, I saw an add in the newspaper and Jackie said the place was really good and worth the drive.” She continued,

“Jackie’s Jewish?” Ray found himself asking,

“No but she has friend who is.” Jax supplied from the back seat, “Apparently she used go to this bakery every summer and bring Jackie something back.”

“Every summer?” Ray asked, knowing something was off, “So we’re not getting him some kind of special Chanukah dessert?” He asked and Sara groaned in her seat.

“I don’t know,” she said, “None of us are Jewish and without the Internet we can’t look up what is or is not traditional, so we’ll just see what they have when we get there.” She all but snapped,

“I’m just saying that three hours is a long way to- I’ll shut up,” Ray quickly amended his sentence when he stopped at a stop sign and caught the deadly glare Sara had fixed on him.

 

* * *

 

 

“Morning,” Kendra said in her usual cheery voice as she entered the kitchen and found Rip and Stein already in their usual seats, Len standing over the stove cooking eggs.

“Good morning Kendra,” Rip replied as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Where’s Raymond?” Stein asked, normally Ray came down with Kendra but today she was alone, and he was starting to wonder where Sara and Jax had gone as well.

“Jax and Raymond are keeping Sara out of the house for the day,” Len replied before Kendra had the chance. Sure the road trip to Maine might have been Sara’s idea, but that doesn’t meant that those at the house aren’t using Sara’s absence on the day after her birthday to their advantage.

“They’re already gone?” Stein questioned, he had known about the plan for those two to keep Sara distracted for the day while the rest of them set up a small birthday party, but he hadn’t suspected they would be gone so early.

“Yes, so we should probably hurry up with breakfast and get started.” Kendra said as she quickly poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Take your time, they’re going to be gone all day.” Len assured her just as he finished cooking.

 

* * *

 

“Is there one station that isn’t playing commercials?” Ray demanded to know as Sara was leaning forward and scanning through the radio.

“So far, just the religious station.” She informed him and he frowned, he hadn’t wanted to spend his entire day after Christmas on the highway with Sara and Jax.

Still, it’s for the best. After Sara commented on that kiss under the mistletoe serving as her birthday present everyone, except for Rip, became very confused. She then explained that Christmas is also her birthday and so upon hearing that the team had decided to plan a surprise for her. They were initially going to do it on Christmas, her actual birthday, but they made the mistake of not so subtlety asking her if she liked chocolate. Stein had been the one to ask, and she had him figured out in less than five seconds. She told him that yes; she does like chocolate, but also not to do anything for her birthday. Apparently her parents tried for a few years to celebrate her birthday on the actual date but she always hated it. She hated blowing out her birthday candles on Christmas, she hated not having a real birthday party until weeks later if she had one at all, and as she had gotten older she rarely even noticed when her birthday had passed so she told him that she didn’t see much of a point in celebrating. But the rest of the team does. They very much see a point in celebrating the birthday of their resident assassin and since she was already planning to drag Jax and Ray out on the day after Christmas, well they might as well use the day to set up a surprise for her back at the house.

Absentmindedly, Ray wondered how all that was going. Now that he knows they’re going all the way to Maine he’s sure that the rest of the team will have plenty of time to set up whatever it is they’re setting up.

 

* * *

 

“I thought that without Raymond in the house we wouldn’t have to worry about anything setting on fire.” Len drawled in annoyance while watching Professor Stein swat out the fire he had accidentally set to an innocent, and now slightly burned, washcloth.

“I was trying to get the lighter to work,” The older man excused, he had wanted to be sure they wouldn’t be fiddling with it later when trying to light the candles. Just as he had suspected it wasn’t working, but it decided to as he grew less confident with it and had absentmindedly been holding it dangerously close to a flammable washcloth.

Len hummed in thought before finally deciding to grab a piece of scrap paper from the counter, along with a pen, and scribble something down. He then tacked his note onto the fridge and out of curiosity Stein went over and looked, a frown immediately crossing his face when he saw.

“Really?” He questioned; Len just smirked.

“Start the tally tomorrow night,” he said before leaving the room, leaving behind his bulletin of _Days Without a Fire._

 

* * *

 

 

“How far is the next stop?” Jax asked for the hundredth time,

“I don’t know,” Sara and Ray replied in unison, also for the hundredth time.

“But I hope we find it soon because I have to go to the bathroom.” Ray added,

“Why do you think I keep asking?” Jax snapped from the backseat.

“Why didn’t you two go before we left?” Sara questioned the two of them.

“You didn’t go before we left!” Jax pointed out,

“True but I’m not complaining about it,” She argued back.

“No offense Sara, but it probably isn’t a good thing that you haven’t gone to the bathroom since last night and still don’t have to go.” Ray said but she didn’t seem concerned about it in the least.

“There’s no bathroom breaks in the league of assassins, I can hold it for almost twenty-four hours before it becomes an issue.” She explained and although he was in the backseat she could feel Jax’s worried expression. “I don’t,” she assured him. “I’m just saying that I can,” she felt him roll his eyes but soon drop the subject, or so she had hoped.

“Wait, so what about-?”

“Do you really want to get into that?” She cut him off with the deadpan question and he abruptly shut his mouth.

With a satisfied expression on her face Sara turned her attention back to the road, and no sooner did she see the sign that they all should’ve been looking for.

“Next rest stop, four miles.” She announced, the boys responded with mixed cheers and groans. Cheers because they now knew how long they have to wait, but groans because when you really have to pee four miles is a long ways to wait.

 

* * *

 

 

“Rip… Rip, RIP!” Kendra shouted at the Englishman who was turning blue in the face as he failed to blow up a balloon.

“What?” He asked as he caught his breath. The two of them were currently seated on the couch while Len and Stein were out, having walked down to the store to pick up some small decorations and another jug of water.

“You’re turning purple,” she deadpanned and he sighed as he set down the deflated balloon in defeat.

“Yes well, blowing up balloons has never been a talent of mine.” He admitted as she tied her own, perfectly inflated, balloon.

“Is there a tragic backstory to go with that?” She teased and he couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement at that.

“Well there is the fact that Miranda always had to blow up any balloons we got for Jonas’s birthday, except for the one year she bought them already inflated to make me feel better.” Kendra fell back laughing at the image of that and Rip laughed along with her after a moment. Once the two had had their laugh the reminder of Miranda and Jonas’s fates sank in and brought a heavy silence to the room.

“We will save them you know,” Kendra said, prompting Rip to look at her and see her kind smile. “We will defeat Savage and get them back,” she assured him and he cracked a rather forced grin of his own. He couldn’t allow himself to have that kind of faith, not yet anyway.

“I hope so,” he said before pushing to his feet. “But in the meantime we have a birthday to celebrate so let’s hope that Professor Stein and Mr. Snart get back soon with the supplies.” He said and as if on cue the front door swung open and in walked a bickering Martin and Leonard.

“Well they came back,” Kendra said, knowing that it would’ve been preferable for the two to return to the house not arguing.

“What is going on?” Rip questioned as he and Kendra approached the two in the hallway.

“Silver top’s girlfriend was working today,” Len immediately said, jerking an accusing thumb in Stein’s direction.

“She is not my girlfriend!” The professor uselessly protested,

“You’re starting to sound like Jax,” Len taunted, Stein opened his mouth to rebuttal but was cut off before he had a chance to get a word out.

“What is this all about?” Rip demanded, one hand holding his now aching head in frustration.

“Well during his usual flirting, Grandpa here invited Ingrid over for Sara’s party.” Len explained and again Stein looked like he had every intention set on arguing, but again he didn’t get the chance.

“What!?!?” Rip demanded,

“In my defense,” Stein began to splutter,

“Oh I can’t wait to hear this,” Rip muttered, though it went ignored.

“I did not MEAN to invite her over-”

“Your exact words were ‘why don’t you stop by?’” Len reminded the older man, “What else could that mean?” He questioned,

“Ok, enough!” Rip put a stop to the argument between the two before he focused his extremely angry gaze on Martin.

“What were you thinking?” He demanded; Martin seemed to shrink under his hard stare.

“As I said before, I did not mean to invite her. It just sort of, slipped out.” He excused and at that point it was hard to tell who was angrier, Rip or Len.

“Well you are just going to have to give her a call and uninvite her,” Rip finally said, of course Stein looked at him as if he were insane.

“I don’t have her phone number,” he excused,

“It’s 1986, the phone book is still a thing.” Len reminded Stein,

“Guys, come on.” Kendra finally cut in, earning the attention of all three of them. “This party was just going to be the seven of us like every other day, and besides its not like Ingrid’s a stranger, we all know her.” She said, trying to defend Stein’s impulsive decision to bring his friend to the house.

“Kendra, it doesn’t matter that we all know her. She doesn’t know us, not really, and we can’t let her find out.” Rip tried to lecture but judging by the way Kendra folded her arms over her middle it was obvious that she was in no mood to listen.

“We can’t let her find out what?” She challenged, “We hardly act different in public than we do at home, and besides it’s rude to cancel on a friend like that.” She pointed out and Rip sighed in defeat.

“Fine,” he conceded “But everyone needs to be on their best behavior,” he warned before walking off with Stein not far behind him, after sending a grateful look Kendra’s way of course.

“Are you trying to set up the old man?” Len asked once both Stein and their captain were safely out of earshot.

“Ray and I have a bet going,” she admitted and a mischievous smirk crossed the crook’s face; he was liking Kendra more and more every day.

“Can I get in on that?” He asked, if they were going to have the old lady over tonight and therefor be forced to pay attention to their covers then he might as well try and make some money off it.

 

* * *

 

 

“Finally,” Jax said in relief when, after nearly four hours of driving, they found the little bakery Sara had dragged them all the way out here for.

“We’re lucky they’re open,” Ray remarked as the three of them walked across the parking lot.

“No kidding,” Sara remarked with obvious relief and so Ray stopped in his tracks.

“You mean to tell me that you dragged us out four hours from home, and you weren’t even sure if they were open?” He demanded and upon hearing it put this way Jax also glared at the blonde woman who only responded by shrugging her shoulders.

“I was fairly sure they were open,” she replied, turning back towards the small building and heading inside.

Ray and Jax exchanged glances with each other before they decided it’s best to just be grateful that the bakery was in fact open and follow Sara inside.

The bakery was a small building and was very homey on the inside, but for the day after Christmas it appeared to be doing a good business. The display case had things ranging from chocolate chip cookies to some Santa Claus looking things made out of what looked to be marshmallow and strawberries.

“Hi, can I help you?” A friendly enough woman asked from behind the counter,

“Yeah, we’re looking for something called zip, zippo, zippoly?” Jax stuttered, realizing that he had no idea how to pronounce whatever it was that they were here for.

“Zeppole,” Sara corrected him.

After they got what they had come for they filed back into the car.

“Alright, back to New Hampshire.” Ray declared, stating up the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

“You guys don’t want to stop at a restaurant anywhere?” Sara asked, to her it seemed almost like a waste to come four hours just to get back in the car right away.

“Nope,” The boys answered in unison, unlike Sara they knew that the three of them have a surprise party to get to.

 

* * *

 

“The cake looks like it came out rather well,” Stein mused as he entered the kitchen, where Kendra was just finishing the task of frosting the cake.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice doing nothing to hide how pleased with herself she was. They had decided to make a chocolate cake with white frosting, but Kendra’s true accomplishment was that she had managed to write _Happy Birthday Sara_ in pink icing across the surface without smudging a single letter.

“I believe it is I who should be thanking you, Kendra.” Stein said with a grateful smile on his face. He then cast a glance over his shoulder into the living room, Ingrid had just arrived and currently she was helping Len tack some streamers up over the doorframe.

“I don’t believe Captain Hunter would’ve come around to her joining us had you not changed his mind.” He explained and Kendra smirked.

“Since when do any of us listen to Rip?” She asked and Stein chuckled in response.

“Mr. Stein, do you think you could come give us a hand in here?” Len’s voice called from the living room; considering the cover story was that he and Ray had been friends all their lives he knew he had to pretend to show some respect for the old man, but Stein didn’t miss the sheer annoyance that laced every word.

He nodded his thanks to Kendra before turning and heading into the other room, and just as he did Jax came bursting into the kitchen through the back door.

“Wow, you guys made good time.” Kendra commented, seeing as it wasn’t quite seven o’clock yet.

Meanwhile Jax was balancing a box of some sort of pastries in one arm while he used the other hand to open the fridge. He took out the milk, water, and orange juice before he placed his box in the back of the fridge and the previously discarded jugs in front of it.

“Just went there and back,” he explained, rearranging the refrigerators contents slightly more to be sure that the box was hidden from Stein.

Just as he finished the entire house went quiet, the knob on the front door turning, as Sara and Ray were about to come in. They didn’t have time to hit the lights before Sara was walking into the living room.

“What’s-?”

“Surprise!” Everyone’s shout, except for Len’s because he kind of just stood there, cut her off. She looked surprised, not angry but not exactly happy either. Ray caught sight of Ingrid and sent a confused look over to Kendra in the kitchen doorway, the look she gave him told him to just go with it.

 

* * *

 

Eventually Sara warmed up to the surprise and they had their little party. The team had gotten her some little birthday presents, such as little trinkets or a gift card from Stein. Len, because he gave her her birthday present yesterday, gave her a small box wrapped in Santa Claus paper.

“Really?” She asked him with a teasing smile, he simply smirked back and shrugged.

“In hindsight I really should’ve given you this for Christmas,” he remarked as she unwrapped the present, revealing that it was a knife sheath decorated with the carved images of snowflakes.

This, obviously, confused Ingrid but they managed to convince her that the knife it was intended for was decoration only. Considering that, as far as she was concerned, Sara’s father had once been an antiques dealer it wasn’t that hard.

Ingrid did manage to catch Sara alone before the night was over, the blonde was hiding in the kitchen and putting some dishes in the sink to be washed later.

“Hiding from the party?” The older woman asked, causing Sara to look over her shoulder and notice her.

“I’ll be out there in a minute,” she replied with a small smile.  
“When your father invited me tonight I’ll admit I was a little surprised,” she said and Sara chuckled.

“Well if you ask me I think my dad has a little bit of a crush on you,” she all but teased and she didn’t miss it when Ingrid shifted uncomfortably.

“How do you feel about that?” The older woman asked; Sara didn’t know how to respond to the question at first.

“Um-” she began, almost glad when Ingrid cut her off because she had no idea what to say.

“It’s just that I know the idea of your father possibly having a relationship with someone other than your mother must be hard to imagine, and if you’re not comfortable with that-” now it was Sara’s turn to cut Ingrid off.

“Whoa, whoa slow down.” She said, “What did my dad tell you about my mother?” She asked and Ingrid shrugged with a bewildered look on her face that said he had told her nothing. “I never knew her,” Sara began the lie, choosing to base this story off of Clarissa as opposed to her true mother. “Dad used to work a lot, and I mean A LOT. Mom got tired of him always being gone and walked out, I was too young to remember her.” She confessed and although there was now more sympathy in Ingrid’s eyes it was obvious that something still wasn’t adding up for her. “Ray’s parents died when I was only about four, and he came to live with us. So if I ever seem uncomfortable it’s because I’m still adjusting. For my entire life it was just dad, Ray, I. Sure Rip was around a lot but he didn’t live with us, and Len was just the kid down the street. I left to travel for work and when I came back Rip and Len were living with us, Ray had married this girl I didn’t know, she already lived with her brother, and we were all packing up and moving to New Hampshire. But trust me, I like seeing how happy my dad is with you.” She explained with a small smile towards the end.

Much to her surprise, Ingrid wrapped her in a hug. But she hugged the woman back regardless, because no matter what the actual situation is between her Stein Sara does in fact want him to be happy.


	15. A Night With Friends

“What?” Jax questioned when he noticed Ben frowning a few days later at work, the day of New Years Eve in fact.

His boss merely nodded towards the open garage door in response and Jax looked out, only for a frown to creep across his own face. There was a guy outside, roughly his own age and built heavily with muscle. He was talking with Jackie and the girl in question looked less than thrilled to be a part of the conversation.

“Old boyfriend?” Jax asked and Ben shrugged,

“Not a good one,” he commented, “Kid’s a total deadbeat, don’t know what our girl ever saw in him. From what I understand she broke up with him but looks like he didn’t take it too well.” He commented and Jax looked back over at the two, noticed that by Jackie’s facial expression she appeared to be reluctantly agreeing to something, then back at Ben.

“You don’t think he’d hurt her, do you?” He asked, and Ben knew how he meant it. Jax isn’t sure how Jackie would handle emotional pain; he doesn’t know her well enough yet. But this guy, god forbid he ever lay a hand on Jackie, could probably snap her in half.

“Don’t know,” Ben replied with a shrug as he eyed the pair out front. “But you don’t need to worry about that, she can handle herself.” He assured, or rather tried to assure Jax.

The younger man was wondering if Ben was looking at the same guy that he was, because he highly doubted that Jackie could take down a guy like that. Could Sara? No question, but Sara was trained twice by the league of assassins.

He didn’t have much more time to dwell on it, however, because that was when Jackie returned to the shop as her ‘friend’ headed off on his way.

“What was that about?” Jax asked as Ben left the room and he and Jackie got back to work on a car.

“Nothing,” the girl replied, though it was beyond obvious that she was lying.

“You sure?” Jax questioned and she fixed him with a glare that could arguably rival Sara’s.

“I’m sure,” She told him, this time he had the sense to drop it.

 

* * *

 

 

“No I understand,” Stein said into the phone as he stood in the kitchen, shifting slightly to allow Sara to pass only to have her step over the long cord in order to get to the refrigerator. He hung up the phone as Sara grabbed the container of grapes from the fridge and began eating them.

“Who was that?” She asked,

“Ingrid,” Stein replied, he had gotten her phone number after Sara’s birthday. “Haley’s mother was called into work last minute so she has Haley now,” he reported, Sara gave a frown. She couldn’t blame Haley’s mom for dumping the little girl with Ingrid at the last minute; from what she understood her life wasn’t in the best of situations. But although he wouldn’t admit it, tonight was supposed to be Stein’s first real date with his ‘girlfriend’. They were going to a New Years ball in the next city over, along with most of the team. But Sara wasn’t going; she, Len, and Jax had decided that a fancy party just wasn’t their scene and they would rather ring in the New Year away from the crowd.

“I’ll watch her,” she offered, Stein looked surprised by the offer but she only shrugged as she put the grapes away. “I used to babysit all the time, besides I’m sure her mom isn’t exactly thrilled to leave her with Ingrid tonight.” She said, knowing that Haley’s mother was well aware of the older woman’s plans for this evening and had probably hated having no other choice.

“True, but Madison isn’t the type to leave her daughter in the care of a stranger.” Stein told her.

“I’m not a stranger to Haley,” Sara reminded, “Haley knows me, Mattie’s met you and she trusts Ingrid, I’m sure she’d be ok with your daughter looking after hers.” She explained and Stein gave her a sigh.

“While I understand that as far as they are concerned you are my daughter, we must remember that you are not.” He reminded her, she studied him for a moment and found that his eyes conveyed the message that even he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to believe his own words.

“Do you trust me?” She asked; he nodded in response.

“Of course,”

“Then what’s the problem?” She asked and he took a moment or two to reconsider the idea.

“I’ll give Ingrid a call,” he agreed.

 

* * *

 

“Are you ready?” Ray asked Kendra as he came walking up into the attic, he was all dressed for the party tonight and last he had checked Kendra was just finishing her hair.

“Just about,” Kendra replied, Ray sucked in a breath when he saw her.

Ray had never been a particular fan of 1980’s fashion, although the suit he was currently wearing wasn’t all that different than some he had worn in the present. But the dresses he had never been a fan of. However when he looked at Kendra in her corset style black dress with a puffy green skit he couldn’t help but stare.

“I hope you make that face at our wedding,” Kendra joked when she turned her head to see Ray staring at her with his mouth hanging slightly agape.

Finally gaining control of himself, Ray closed his mouth and brought himself back to reality.

“Probably will,” he admitted with a chuckle of his own, but he began to regret it when Kendra suddenly looked upset. “What’s wrong?” He asked and while it looked like she spent a moment mentally debating the thought of lying, she ended up sighing and moving closer to him.

“How are we going to get married?” She asked, “We’re stuck in 1986,” she reminded him and now it was his turn to sigh, he knew this was going to be a problem.

When he and Anna were engaged she had always talked about having a big wedding, and he had loved the idea almost as much as she had. He wanted a big celebration as much as the next guy, but honestly when it comes down to it Kendra is the only one he needs in order to be happy.

“We can get married here,” he suggested but she sighed,

“Everyone here thinks we’re already married.” She pointed out and Ray nodded in acknowledgment to that problem.

“Well who do we have back in 2016 that we would want at the wedding?” He asked her and she thought on it for a minute. She didn’t have any family; her mother had died when she was a twelve and her father passed away just before she moved to Central City, in fact his death was the reason she moved to Central City. Ray doesn’t have parents either, not that he’s spoken to recently anyway. He doesn’t talk to his brother either, so actually now that she was thinking about it the only people that immediately came to mind when thinking about who would be at their wedding were those who live in this very house.

“Do you really want to get married in 1986?” She asked instead of answered. They had drawn closer together by now, so close that if either chose to they could easily close the distance between them with a kiss.

Ray shrugged in response, “Doesn’t matter, as long we get married.” He replied in his usual chipper voice, void of any concerns for the unnecessary as always. That was one of the many things that she loved about Ray; how he’s able to focus on the big picture but single out the most important details, and how he has faith that the rest will all work out eventually. “Hey,” he said, pulling her out of her thoughts just before he put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her. She met him halfway happily, a smile crossing her face as she pulled away. “Why don’t we just enjoy tonight, and deal with this tomorrow?” He asked in a whisper of a voice.

“Ok,” she agreed.

 

* * *

 

“Thank you so much for watching her,” Ingrid said to Sara as she arrived with Haley, they had run through the arrangement with Madison, Haley’s mother, and just as Sara predicted she trusted Ingrid’s judgment and allowed her to leave Haley in Sara’s care for the night.

“It’s no problem Ingrid,” Sara said with a small laugh as Haley stood before her, the handle of her little suitcase clutched tightly in one hand.

“She’s already eaten, she just needs her bath. Her bedtime is eight o’clock but she fell asleep in the car ride over here so don’t worry about it if you can’t get her to sleep until closer to nine.” Ingrid explained, fully aware that it’s seven-thirty now and so it was highly unlikely that Sara would be able to have Haley bathed and in bed by eight.

“Got it,” Sara said and just at that moment Rip, along with Kendra and Ray, came down the stairs behind her.

“Is everybody ready?” Rip asked,

“I am amazed that you’re going with them,” Sara remarked with a teasing smirk.

“Yes well, I think I’m beginning to see what you and Len are talking about needing time apart.” He excused, making sure to use both his American accent and Leonard’s shortened name (as opposed to Mr. Snart) in order to maintain his cover in front of Ingrid and her granddaughter.

“Yes, we’re ready.” Stein said as Ingrid bent down to give her granddaughter a hug goodbye.

As she finished with that Sara decided it might be wise to take a page from Haley’s book and so she gave Stein a quick hug goodbye, murmuring a quick “bye dad,” just before pulling away.

“Goodbye,” Those leaving chorused with a few waves at Sara and Haley before they all disappeared out the front door; leaving the two girls standing in the hallway.

“So I take it robbing a bank is out for tonight?” Leonard drawled as he came to stand in the doorway at the end of the hall, he and Jax had been in the kitchen working on dinner for the past ten minutes.

“What?” Haley asked, looking up at Sara with obvious confusion.

“He’s joking,” Sara replied with a smile, “And I should be giving you a bath right now.” She added,

“No!” Haley whined, causing her caretaker for the night to smirk.

“Calm down, I’m gonna eat first.” She said and that did actually calm Haley a little bit.

She trailed behind Sara, leaving her suitcase at the bottom of the stairs for now.

“Anything catch fire yet?” Sara asked Len,

“No, impressive considering some people refer Jax as ‘The Burning Man’ _._ ” He joked and Sara snickered.

“I doubt Jax even knows what ‘Burning Man,’ is.” She said,

“Yes I do,” Jax said in defense as the two, well three counting Haley, walked into the kitchen.

He and Len had made pasta for dinner, so really it didn’t require the two of them both of them be in there but they were already in there when everyone started gathering in the hall, and neither of them wanted to deal with that.

“Can I have some ice cream?” Haley asked Sara whilst the older woman scooped some pasta into a bowl for herself and opened the fridge to get some butter.

“No,” she replied simply, mixing her newly acquired butter into her bowl.

“But I ate my dinner!” The little girl whined,

“It’s too late for you to have that kind of sugar, you can have a cookie if you want.” She offered and Haley thought through the alternative carefully.

“Can I have two cookies?” She asked with smile that said she knew she was pushing her luck.

“Sure,” Sara gave in with a smirk, setting her bowl down on the table and getting up to grab some cookies.

Jax was sitting on the counter, no particular reason as to why, he just was and he was blocking the cabinet where they kept the cookies. She took hold of the handle and waited for him to take the hint, which he promptly did and went to sit at the table.

As Sara got her snack, Haley went and climbed onto the chair between Jax and the space where Sara had set down her own dinner. However she wasn’t quite big enough to reach the surface of the table, which Sara chuckled upon noticing and so she set down Haley’s cookies and glass of milk right beside her own pasta bowl before sitting down and lifting Haley onto her lap. Haley was content with this solution, so long as she could reach her cookies. To be honest, Sara wasn’t entirely sure if the ice cream or cookies had more sugar, but she was fairly certain it was the ice cream. Besides, if the kid stayed up a little bit past her bedtime then it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

 

* * *

 

“What was Rip talking about Sara and Len needing time apart?” Ingrid questioned Stein while the two of them mingled around at the party.

“Well as you know neither Sara nor Len is currently holding a steady job, and he was always Raymond’s friend when they were children so they really have a sibling like bond and, as all siblings do, they need some time apart.” Stein excused and although Ingrid smiled she also shook her head.

“I don’t buy it,” she said and briefly Stein’s eyes widened with panic. “Those two don’t act like siblings,” she continued with a smirk, Stein now relaxed a little. “Maybe you can’t see it because you’re her father and you’ve known him since he was a child; but I think there is something going on between the two of them.” She suggested and Stein quickly learned that he had picked the wrong time to take a sip of his drink. He began choking and so Ingrid awkwardly hit him on the back until he was over it and could breathe again.

“What gives you an idea like that?” He finally managed to croak out, his friend however, only shrugged.

“There was something about the way he was looking at her throughout her birthday party,” she answered, “I could be wrong but I would keep my eye on the two of them if I were you.” She half taunted, Stein suddenly found himself very grateful that while Sara may sleep in the same bed as Mr. Snart, Jefferson also sleeps in that same room.

 

* * *

 

“I thought you said you used to babysit?” Len snarled as he and Sara ran through the second floor of the house, chasing a naked three-year-old who was trying to avoid her bath.

“I never said bath time was my strong suit,” she said just as Len managed to reach forward and scoop their giggling headache up into his arms. “Besides, I’m out of practice.” She excused, Len simply rolled his eyes and passed Haley to her, unfortunately she slipped right through the hand off and raced past Sara.

“Hey!” Len called after her but she only continued to run away giggling, with a shared groan the two adults raced off after her for a second time.

* * *

 

So while Sara and Len chased a toddler around upstairs, Jax was content to stay on the couch and watch the New Years Eve ball drop broadcast from New York City. He had watched it almost every year as a kid and he figured he might as well keep the tradition going. That being said he was coming very close to loosing interest and found it as a welcome development when the phone started ringing. He got up and walked into the kitchen where the phone was attached to the wall.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Jax?” A strained voice said on the other end.

“Hello?” Jax repeated, more urgently, because he recognized that voice but couldn’t place it because it sounded so upset.

“Jax? Can you hear me?” It spoke, now it was evident that tears were the things that were obscuring the voice. “Jax?” It came again and this time he recognized it.

“Jackie?” He asked in shock, becoming even more shocked when he heard a loud sob of confirmation on the other end.

“Jax! I’m going to run out of time, I’m at the Cross Street phone booth! Please-” she was cut off by a dial tone as the phone went dead.

“Jackie? Jackie!” Jax shouted into the phone twice before he realized it was useless and he hung up. He spent almost a full minute scrambling around before he remembered that the others had taken the car to the party. “Damn it!” He cursed before barreling up the stairs.

 

First he ran into the bathroom, where Sara was kneeling in front of the tub as she washed Haley’s hair.

“Where’s Snart?” He questioned,

“Check my room, I asked him to get Haley’s pajama’s out.” She replied and so he did just that.

He ran into Sara’s room and barely even gave Snart a chance to turn around before he spoke.

“I need to borrow your tools,” he said, Len quirked an eyebrow at him but saw the desperation that was on his face and decided it would be best to ask questions later.

“Under my bed, don’t get arrested.” He said and with a nod Jax rushed off to get what he needed.


	16. Just the Two of Us (Plus One)

One set of lock pickers and a stolen car later and Jax was on his way to Cross Street. He was hoping and praying that Jackie hadn’t left the payphone at the end of the street. He didn’t think she would’ve, otherwise that wouldn’t have been the location she gave him. So that was where he drove and sure enough it was where he spotted the distant figure of a person sitting on the ground under the streetlight. He drove closer, almost hoping it wasn’t Jackie, but it was.

“Jackie?” He asked, pulling up alongside the streetlight and getting out of the car. She looked up at the sound of his voice and got to her feet, revealing her face to be red and stained with tears. As if that weren’t enough to catch Jax off guard, she took it a step further and threw her arms around him.

At first he just stood frozen in his spot, but then he slowly processed that whatever was happening it had Jackie scared and so he wound his arms protectively around her back. He held her there for a moment, just letting her cry the last of her tears into his shoulder until she finally stopped and loosened enough for him to push her away.

“Come on,” he said to her, cocking his head towards the stolen car. She nodded a grateful smile, not even asking whose car he had, and made her way to the passenger side door.

Jax got in the drivers side and drove off, they drove silently for a few minutes before he finally decided to acknowledge the situation.

“What happened?” He asked, he didn’t take his eyes off the dark road but he could still tell that Jackie was staring guiltily at her feet.

“He invited me to a party, I said no but he wore me down.” She began her explanation, he knew exactly who she was talking about. “I was there for maybe an hour and I tried to leave, he tried to get me to stay and, well, he’d been drinking a little…” she trailed off as Jax heard her confirming his biggest fear from this morning, he knew that guy was trouble.

“Did he hurt you?” He demanded, glancing over at his friend who, to his relief, started shaking her head.

“No, he grabbed my wrist so I twisted his arm.” She assured him, now Jax was a mix between surprised and impressed. “What?” Jackie asked, noticing his reaction, “My dad taught me how to fix cars, do you really think he didn’t teach me how to take out guys bigger than me?” She questioned, after a minute Jax decided that it might be best not to answer.

“Speaking of your dad, why didn’t you call your parents?” He asked instead and when she went quiet he knew exactly why she hadn’t called her parents. “They don’t know you were with him, do they?” He asked and she shook her head.

“That and they’re at a party,” She replied, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t think of anyone else who would answer-”

“No, no don’t be sorry.” Jax assured his friend, he could hear the tears coming back into her voice. “I’m glad you called me, now just-” Jax was cut off by the sound of police sirens. “Crap,” he cussed under his breath as he began to pull over.

 

* * *

 

“You don’t have to do this,” Sara said to Len for the hundredth time. The two of them had finally gotten Haley into her pajamas, although by the time her bath was done Sara looked to be wetter than the toddler, and now they were both standing in the bathroom as Sara held Haley up to the sink so that the little girl could brush her teeth.

“I was in your room for two minutes and almost left to get a jacket, she’ll catch pneumonia if she sleeps in there.” He pointed out and she couldn’t argue the point, it was true.

“I was just going to pull out the couch bed for us to sleep on.” She said, “us” referring to herself and Haley. Len had suggested that she and Haley take his bed for the night and he would sleep on the couch, but once she shared her idea he simply raised an eyebrow at her. “What?” She asked with a slight laugh, setting Haley down as she did so.

“That couch folds out into a bed, and you’ve been sleeping with me every night?” He questioned and Sara rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t know that,” she said, Haley had already run off and more likely than not was about to get into trouble but for the moment she didn’t care. “Besides, it would be a pain in the ass to pack it up every morning and take it out every night.” She reasoned before exiting the bathroom and heading for her own bedroom, they had left Haley’s suitcase in there so odds were that’s where the little girl had run off to.

Sure enough when Sara stepped into the doorway she found her little friend sitting on her bed and playing with the two dolls she had brought, not seeming to mind the room’s freezing temperature in the least. She smiled as she watched Haley play for a minute, remembering a time so long ago in her own life when things had been this simple. Haley was sitting on the bed; her strawberry blonde hair damp and smelling like fresh soap from the bath. Her pajamas were actually a pink set of thermal underwear so maybe that’s what was keeping her from noticing the cold of the room. She was well aware that she was being watched, but she didn’t care. The world hadn’t quite gotten hold of her yet and she hasn’t yet been convinced that she should care about what other people might think of her pretend games. Sara smiled warmly, remembering all the nights of her childhood when she and Laurel would play (or fight, one or the other) at bedtime.

“Hey,” she finally said, prompting Haley to finally look up at her. “Are you going to be ok up here if Leonard and I go downstairs for a minute?” She asked and Haley nodded, Sara gave her a smile before turning and heading downstairs to help Len take out the trundle bed.

 

* * *

 

“Well this sucks,” Jax commented from his seat on the bench in the holding cell while Jackie paced around anxiously. To be honest, once he got past the dreaded thoughts of the lecture he was going to receive from Rip for this, he was a little embarrassed. Snart, Rory, and Sara stole a car in the 70’s. Sara, Ray, and Kendra stole a car in the 50’s. Sara and Snart stole the car that they are all currently using here in the 80’s, and yet the one time he steals a car he ends up arrested.

“You think?” Jackie snapped; she was handling this even worse than he was. “I can’t believe you stole a car!” She groaned in frustration.

“Well excuse me, but when my best friend calls me in tears from a payphone I figure stealing car isn’t the worst thing I could do considering you could’ve been dead for all I knew by the time I got there on foot.” He lectured but Jackie merely rolled her eyes.

“Please, I wouldn’t have made it all the way to a phone booth if I was dying.” She scoffed and now it was Jax’s turn to roll his eyes, but he chose to remain silent. “My parents are going to kill me,” she muttered and Jax sighed out of annoyance, although he knew he probably should’ve been doing it out of sympathy.

Stealing the car was his choice, but honestly he hadn’t expected to get caught. It only took ten minutes to get from where he stole the car to Cross Street, and he’d had every intention on bringing it back exactly as he found it. So ending up in jail was never part of the plan.

The cops had tried calling Jackie’s parents but because they were at the party no one was home to answer. Jax had also explained to the police that while people were home at his house they have no means of getting to the station, hence the reason he stole the car. He also told them that Kendra was the only person with his information and she won’t be home until after midnight so there would be no point in calling anyone for him just yet.

“Didn’t Sara used to be a bail bonds worker?” Jackie questioned once the officer was gone, upon hearing her question Jax realized he had forgotten all about that part of the cover.

“Like I said, she doesn’t have my information.” He replied, although how much information is actually needed to bail someone out of a holding cell?

If her face was any indication, Jackie had the same question running through her mind. But she let it go and slumped down in the vacant seat next to Jax, placing her head in her hands as she did.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, “I never should’ve dragged you into this,” she continued and at her words Jax noticed the tears starting to return to her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, patting her back awkwardly because he didn’t know what else to do.

 

* * *

 

By the time the bed was pulled out of the couch and made up with the extra set of sheets and most of Sara’s blankets, it was already past nine. Haley, of course, still didn’t want to go to sleep and instead begged to stay up until midnight and watch the ball drop.

“No,” Sara told her sternly, for the hundredth time no less.

“Please…” Haley continued to beg, kneeling on the bed and making little prayer hands in a desperate gesture to get her way.

“No,” Sara replied again, reaching her wits end with the girl.

“Here,” Len interrupted, he had been standing in the doorway watching the show and he could see that Sara was edging closer and closer to raising her voice, which undoubtedly would result in Haley crying; something neither of them wanted to deal with. So he picked up the remote and began clicking through the channels.

“NO!!!” Haley cried, almost screamed in fact.

“Relax,” Len drawled, not that Haley paid it any attention or even heard. She continued to cry as he stopped on the station he’d been searching for, suddenly grateful for the commercial he had seen this morning.

When Haley realized that Leonard had stopped on a channel playing a rerun of _Rudolph’s Shiny New Year_ she started to calm down a little bit, as the talking animals interested her far more greatly than performers she was too young to care about.

“We’ll watch this for now, and talk about the ball drop later.” He compromised and Haley, sniffling to quiet her tears, accepted this arrangement.

Sara nodded her thanks, because like Len she knew the movie was going to put Haley to sleep, and made herself comfortable on the foldout bed. The plan was for her and Haley to sleep there, and so she thought nothing of it when Len turned to leave the room, but apparently Haley did.

As the little girl tucked herself into Sara’s side she reached over the edge of the couch and grabbed Len’s hand as he passed, getting him to stop and raise a questioning eyebrow at her.

“Aren’t you gonna stay and watch with us?” She asked sweetly, all signs of her previous temper tantrum gone.

Len looked at Sara for… well he wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe it was permission, maybe it was just her opinion, but whatever it was he accepted the answer he got from the look on her face; the one that said it was his call and, dare he think, was maybe even hoping he would stay.

“Yeah, I’m just going to get another blanket first.” He answered Haley and with a satisfied smile she released his hand, allowing him to head up to his room.

He returned a few moments later, Sara’s extra warm blanket in hand, and climbed onto the bed. He situated himself on Haley’s right side while Sara remained comfortably on her left, and spread the blanket out over the girls. It wasn’t long enough to cover all three of them, which Haley noticed, and she looked up at him questioningly.

“I’ve got enough blanket without that one, don’t worry.” He assured her, other than what he had just grabbed they also had the sheets, Sara’s comforter, and a throw blanket over them. So yes, he was warm enough without the added help of Sara’s fluffy Christmas present, but Haley didn’t seem to buy it.

She scooted over the half-inch distance from Sara’s side to Len’s and snuggled into him so closely that he briefly flinched at the contact, not that she noticed of course.

“I’ll keep you warm,” she promised, looking up at him with her sparkling brown eyes. He smiled something not totally unlike his usual smirk, but not totally like it either, and put an arm around her just like he used to do when Lisa was about this age.

Sara wouldn’t admit it, but she was rather amused by the exchange taking place beside her. Haley had taken a shine to Len rather quickly, but it didn’t surprise her all that much because the girl did seem to be a very friendly child. She also wouldn’t admit that she felt a juvenile-like pang of jealousy upon losing her little buddy to Leonard, at least she wouldn’t admit it to anyone else. She would admit it to herself because honestly she was relieved to feel it. The fact that she could still be disappointed when a young child decided to favor someone else proved that despite the living hell she has endured over the past nine years (eleven if you’re counting the two she spent in the 1950’s) that teenage girl who loved children still exists in some form inside of her. That desire to have a family of her own someday is still a part of her.

_“Better get started on that soon, or else you might miss your window.”_ A small voice rang somewhere in the back of her mind, reminding her that she only has a few years left before her fertility chances would begin to plummet.

Considering this was the same nagging voice that usually reminded her of how easy it would be to go back to killing, or let the bloodlust win, basically just go full on monster to the point of no return; this should’ve been one of the least terrifying trains of thought it ever put her on.

But somehow it made it up there with the worst.

Maybe that’s because her mind was twisting it, the dark recesses of her subconscious taking control of the thought and creating a scenario where she spent the rest of her life alone. She didn’t mean to glance over at Leonard, but she was certainly glad she did. Maybe she was crazy, maybe she was tired, or maybe she was just desperate to give herself some hope. No matter the reason why, she still felt those fears of a lonely life die away, and be replaced by the impossible possibility that maybe this wouldn’t be the last time she saw Captain Cold with a child drifting off to sleep in his arms.

 

* * *

 

Jackie had long since stopped crying and gone back to being mildly annoyed, though she was still terrified as ever of what was going to happen once her parents got a hold of her.

“Well looks like we’re ringing in the New Year in a jail cell,” Jax said and his friend huffed in agreement.

“Perfect,” she muttered and just at that moment the phone at the desk began to ring and the officer on duty picked it up, only to glance over at the two in the cell when he started talking.

“Think they’re talking to your parents or my sister?” Jax questioned the girl sitting next to him.

“They never called your place to begin with, it is definitely my parents.” She told him and he knew that she was right; problem is that based on her fear of them, Jackie’s parents are probably going to be a lot less understanding than Kendra.

The officer hung up and made his way over to the cell,

“Your parents are coming,” he informed Jackie, who nodded in response. “And you,” he said, directing his attention towards Jax. “Are you sure you don’t want us to call anyone for you?” He questioned for the second time tonight, “Otherwise you’ll be stuck here until we hear fro the owner of the car.” Jax sighed at the warning,

“Yeah ok, call my house.” He finally relented, maybe if he was lucky Sara or Len could find a way here and get him out and back to the house before the others, Rip specifically, returned from the party.

 

* * *

 

It was nearing midnight.

Len and Sara had long since turned the ball drop back on, though neither of them really had any interest in the countdown. A part of Len was absently wondering where in the hell Jax had gone that he wasn’t back yet, but a much stronger part of him was focused on something else. Haley had shifted in her sleep and although she was still situated close to him she had stuck out an arm and leg in Sara’s direction at some point. Sara was also nodding off, her eyes constantly drifting close only for her to force them back open because she simply didn’t want to be that one person who falls asleep before midnight on New Years Eve. They had talked for a little while; mostly speculations about what was going on at the party and some odd job Stein had volunteered the two of them for at the college next week. They were being quiet now, and as a result Len found himself thinking about a topic he hadn’t thought about in a long time; the future.

It must have come from the little girl with her head on his chest, considering sharing a bed with Sara hadn’t stirred up these thoughts before. But he started thinking about what it might be like for there to be a day, or a night rather, where Sara wasn’t the one crawling into his bed at one in the morning. Instead she would start there, just put on her pajamas and head straight to a bed that they shared every night. Then around one in the morning the door would creak open, only this time it wouldn’t be Sara. Instead it would be a young child, a little girl perhaps because that’s easier for Leonard to picture at the moment, with hair a few shades lighter than Haley’s. She would be clutching her favorite doll to her chest for protection after a nightmare, or maybe simply holding it lazily by the ankle. In any case she would hoist herself up onto the mattress and crawl over either his or Sara’s stomach, depending on who slept closest to the door, before wedging herself in-between the two of them, not particularly caring if she woke either of them in the process.

He didn’t speak any of this out loud of course, how was he supposed to know Sara was thinking pretty much the same thing?

“Hey,” It was her voice that brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

“Hm?” He hummed as she sat up just a little bit, he was already half sitting and it was probably the reason that he couldn’t sleep.

“They’re about to count down,” She said, directing his attention to the TV.

“And here I thought you were asleep,” he joked; she chuckled just a little bit but said nothing in argument.

As the countdown began Len found himself thinking about that whole “kiss someone at midnight” tradition that he’s always found to be so incredibly stupid, again blissfully unaware that Sara was thinking the same thing, when the ringing of the phone interrupted his thoughts. In addition to that, the sudden noise also woke Haley, who began to cry from being woken so suddenly.

“Shh, shh it’s ok.” Sara said gently, taking the young girl in her lap while Len got up with a groan.


	17. Reality Check

Fortunately the man whom Jax stole the car from got to the police before Jackie’s parents and he decided not to press charges, thus the police let the two of them go. Unfortunately it did nothing to lessen the glare upon the face of Jackie’s father once he arrived to claim his daughter. He offered Jax a ride home, and if his only other options weren’t walking after midnight in the dead of winter, or the cops, he would’ve refused. But he agreed and hopped into the passenger seat of the truck, Jackie sitting in the middle.

“Your mom is going to kill you,” her father finally said after a long ride of heavy silence.

“I know,” Jackie finally whimpered.

“Just for the record, I’m not mad that your friend here stole a car and got you arrested. He did what he had to do, because YOU disobeyed your mom and me and got back involved with that scumbag!” He was clearly trying not to shout, if only for Jax’s benefit, but he wasn’t striking all that much success.

“I know,” Jackie whimpered again, the tears coming to her face again as she folding in on herself.

To Jax, this was all just a little unreal. To him, Jackie always seemed untouchable. She held her own in a job that even in 2016 is mostly dominated by men, she laughed it off whenever someone, usually him, tripped over their tongue on the subject, and tonight she had apparently twisted the arm of a guy twice her size when he got out of line. Not to mention that bright smile of hers; she’s always smiling. Jax never thought he would in a million years see her break; but tonight he has.

Her father rolled his eyes but said nothing else, clearly wanting to wait until Jax was out of the truck to give his daughter a proper lecture.

Ten agonizingly long minutes later and they had arrived at the house on the very edge of town.

“Thanks,” Jax said to his friend’s father as he hopped out of the truck.

He walked up to the front door of the house, watching the truck drive away just as he got to the door. He then gave a heavy sigh, hoping that the others weren’t back yet, and opened the door.

When he walked into the house it was dark, though he could still hear the sound of the TV on in the living room. He also heard the sound of someone getting up off of what sounded like a really squeaky bed and he knew he was done for. Sure enough Sara and Len came out of the living room, Haley stumbling tiredly behind them until Sara sent her back into the living room to go to sleep.

“You had one job,” Len drawled, his arms folded disapprovingly over his chest. “All I asked was that you not get arrested, and what do you do?” He asked rhetorically,

“Look, the guy isn’t pressing charges,” Jax tried but neither one of his friends looked impressed.

“You’re lucky,” Sara deadpanned, “If they were to press charges there would be a lot of paperwork involved, paperwork that we don’t even have the means to fake right now-”

“Good to know you were worried about me,” Jax cut off.

“I’m serious,” she continued, not missing a beat. “If you get thrown in jail-” the door opening again cut her off, and this time it was the rest of their makeshift family that came in.

“What’s going on?” Stein asked as he flicked on the light for the hall and found those who had remained home standing right there, the particularly dangerous two looking royally pissed off.

“Jax spent most of tonight in the slammer,” Len told them, earning a betrayed glare from Jax.

“What?” Kendra asked, only then did those who had already been home notice that she and Ray were dragging a stumbling Rip.

“What happened to him?” Sara questioned,

“He had a little too much to drink,” Ray explained to her,

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rip drunk.” Len mused and Sara scoffed.

“Drunk?” She asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rip drink, aside from that one game of Never Have I Ever.” She pointed out, and even then the Englishman had only lasted two or three rounds.

“Which is probably why it didn’t take much to push him over the edge,” Kendra said as she handed the arm of Rip’s she was holding over to Stein so that he and Ray could bring Rip up to bed. “Now,” she continued, keeping one eye on the boys until they made it all the way up the stairs. “What’s this about you being arrested?” She questioned Jax.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said before sending a glare at both Sara and Len, “Mom and Dad already read me the right act.” He said before pushing past Kendra and heading up the stairs himself.

“What happened to Ingrid?” Sara asked, noticing that the old woman hadn’t returned with them.

“We dropped her off at home,” Kendra answered, she then turned and made her way upstairs.

 

* * *

 

 

“Jeez!” Jax exclaimed when he came walking out of the bathroom to find Kendra standing right there. “You gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” she said, following him as he walked to his room. “So what happened tonight that ended with you in jail?” She questioned, stopping in his doorway as he walked into the room and sighed.

“I stole a car,” he confessed.

“You what?” She asked in disbelief,

“Jackie got involved with some guy who was nothing but bad new, she called me from a payphone crying. I had to go get her and I never would’ve made it on foot.” He explained, Kendra seemed surprised by this answer but not upset, which was a good thing.

“Is Jackie ok?” She finally asked; Jax let out a relieved breath he hadn’t realized he was holding until now.

“Yeah she’s fine,” he replied and now it was Kendra’s turn to breath out in relief.

“Good,” she said with a nod.

 

* * *

 

The following day, since all of them had New Year’s Day off from work, was spent with everyone out at the Waverider. Well almost everyone, Rip elected to stay in bed and nurse his hangover for most of the morning. Sara also didn’t come out until after Haley’s mother came and got her but that was still before noon. Up until this point they had all mostly neglected cleaning their personal quarters and so the morning at least became dedicated to that.

“I really hate you right now,” Kendra said when she and Ray walked into their room on the ship, everyone’s room was a pit of debris and destruction but theirs was by far the worst thanks to Ray having ransacked it a few months earlier looking for the engagement ring.

“Come on, it’s not that much worse than the others. At least we don’t have a knife in our bed,” Ray defended and he did have a point, when they crashed a knife had embedded itself in the dead center of Sara’s bed and the handle is still jutting out.

“That’s true,” she admitted as she started sifting through the mess.

 

* * *

 

 

“So is the little ankle biter off our hands?” Len questioned when Sara came and joined him on the bridge. Considering the two of them are out here almost every day they’ve mostly repaired their bedrooms, except for the knife still lodged in Sara’s bed of course.

“She loved you,” The blonde teased, setting to work on helping him with the main control panel.

“What can I say?” He asked sarcastically, “I have a way with children,”

“I’ll say,” Sara agreed, “Who knew that a little girl is all it takes to turn you into a big teddy bear?” She continued to mock and so Len stopped what he was doing just long enough to raise an eyebrow at her, she smirked back teasingly.

“My sister,” he replied dryly.

“I’ll bet,” Sara said with a slight laugh as the two of them returned to their work rewiring the console.

They worked in silence for a few more minutes; the only words coming when one asked the other for a tool.

“When we get out of here, are you going to tell your sister that part of your mission through time included helping an assassin on babysitting duty?” Sara finally asked,

“When?” Len asked knowingly, completely side stepping the question. “Getting a little hopeful are we assassin?”

“Maybe,” Sara said with a laugh, “Hand me that wrench,” she requested, reaching out her hand for the object. Len passed it wordlessly and when Sara took it and set to work he noticed how she began to bite her lower lip in concentration, before smiling as the console hummed to life.

 

* * *

 

“Man, you really shouldn’t get drunk.” Jax scolded as he came walking in from the kitchen with a glass of water. It was almost two in the afternoon and Rip had moved from his bed to the couch but he was still low on energy as ever.

“Despite my aching head,” Rip began, taking a slow sip of the water Jax had brought him, “I wasn’t spared from hearing about your trip to the local police station last night, and believe me Mr. Jackson, once I can bear to listen to my own voice reach it’s angry points; you will be dealing with me.” He warned and so Jax rolled his eyes.

“Can’t wait,” he muttered and before Rip could argue, not that he had the energy to, the sound of Len and Sara entering the kitchen through the back door prevented him from doing so.

“Canary and I fixed the console,” Len announced, “We’re heading back out in a minute to help Stein with the engines. Depending on how today goes the nerds think we might be out of here by next month.” He continued, a wide grin broke out on Rip’s face at the news.

“That’s fantastic!” He cheered, genuinely happy and almost forgetting about the pounding sensation inside of his skull.

Sara then proceeded to enter the room and start a conversation with the captain about “getting off his hung-over ass and helping with repairs”. Jax hardly paid any attention to it, however, because his mind was still thinking about last night, about Jackie. She had called him, she trusts him, and he even called her his best friend. But yet he might be gone in a month, and even if he isn’t that doesn’t change the fact that progress on the Waverider is really coming along. So it’s going to be sooner rather than later that he leaves her.

 

 

* * *

 

“Ray where are we going?” Kendra asked later that night as Ray drove her and himself through the town. They had, for the most part, gotten their bedroom on the Waverider cleaned up and fixed a few structural problems within the ship.

“Well since it’s starting to look like we might be leaving 1986 soon, I figure we should take advantage of some things that just aren’t around in the future.” Ray replied cryptically but still with a smile.

“So what? We’re going to drive around and look at all the payphones?” Kendra asked teasingly, Ray chuckled.

“Of course not,” he assured her, a few minutes later they pulled into the drive in Movie Theater.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh sorry, have either of you seen Jefferson?” Stein asked when he poked his head into the open door of Jax and Len’s room, only to find no sign of the former and the latter sitting on his bed playing gin against Sara as usual.

“Nope,” The crook and the assassin both replied in unison, neither taking their eyes off their own cards.

Stein rolled his eyes and pulled his head out of the room, thinking about how Ingrid really might have a point about him needing to keep an eye those two.

It took awhile for him to find Jax, but in his defense he didn’t exactly think to look in Sara’s room. In fact the only reason he found his younger half was because he walked by the small bedroom that Sara no longer sleeps in and noticed the window was open. That would only add to the cold of the room so he stepped inside to close it and that was when he noticed Jefferson sitting on the overhang of roof outside.

“Oh, there you are.” He said, poking his head through the window and gaining Jax’s attention.

“Hey Grey,” He said, scooting over enough to allow the older man onto the roof. He also held out a hand to help him, which Stein gratefully accepted.

“So Raymond and Kendra our out celebrating the progress we made today, I believe your roommates are doing to same thing in their own way, even Rip has moved off the couch and is making dinner. Why do you seem so down?” He asked and Jax gave a sigh, knowing that trying to lie to Grey is pointless. That being said, he was still going to avoid the subject for as long as possible.

“When you say my roommates are celebrating?” He asked skeptically, by now Sara is as much his roommate as Len, the only difference is that most of her clothes and other belongings are still in the closet bedroom. He, and probably everyone else in this house, knows that they have a thing for each other but neither of them has said anything yet.

“I mean that they are gambling, don’t worry.” Stein assured him, knowing exactly what he was afraid they might be doing. “Now, why are you sitting out here all by yourself?” He asked and Jax sighed, figuring he might as well talk and get it over with.

“Jackie was in trouble, and her first instinct was to call me.” He said,

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Stein said, not following what about that could have Jefferson so upset.

“Man, the girl is from 1986 and when she got into trouble the first person she called was her time traveling friend who might be going back to saving the world in a month.” He explained, the angry frown never once leaving his face.

“I see, you’re worried how she’ll handle it when you leave.” The older man stated more than asked it, he didn’t need their psychic link to tell him that he was right.

“Well it’s not like I can exactly tell her where it is that I’m going!” Jax exclaimed, the anger he had been holding down all afternoon starting to rise up. “I can’t keep in touch with her and… man she trusts me!” He burst out, suddenly coming very close to shouting. “She trusts me, and everything she knows about me is a lie.” He said this last part much more quietly.

“While it may not always seem like it Jefferson, I do in this case understand where you’re coming from.” Stein said, “I have been facing many of the same problems when thinking about Ingrid.” He admitted, “What Jackie knows about your background may be a lie, but that doesn’t mean that the lie is all she knows.” He said and Jax just sighed.

“How do you figure?” He asked, more than a little confused by the professor’s proclamation.

“Well, while it may be true that you’re not Kendra’s younger brother and the supposed fates of your parents are false, everything else that she knows about you is true. You’re name, your abilities with machines, and your heart. Those things are all true to who you really are.” He continued but it hardly made Jax feel better.

“All of her friends left her last year, and so far none of them have so much as called her. She’s not going to take it well that I’m leaving,” he said and Stein nodded sympathetically, he was going to have a hard time with leaving as well.


	18. Parental Issues

“Now I expect you both to be on your best behavior,” Stein lectured as he drove to the college, Sara in the passenger seat and Leonard in the back.

There were only a few days left of the holiday break before students would be returning to their classes, so the school really needed to fix the problem with the furnace in the basement of their main building. The guy that they usually called was apparently still away in California where he had spent the holiday and so Stein had talked to the head of Buildings and Grounds about having Sara and Len fix the problem, confident that if the two of them could fix a time machine from 2166 then surely they could manage a simple furnace.

“Hey, contrary to what you might think we’re pretty well behaved when we have a paid job.” Sara defended as they turned onto the campus.

“I hope so,” Stein said, part of him beginning to grow nervous about this decision.

“What are you so worried about old man?” Len questioned while they drove into the parking lot of the main building.

“Nothing,” Stein said and although both Sara and Len could tell that he was lying they dropped the issue, neither of them really caring to investigate further into his motives.

To be honest, Stein wasn’t really sure what had him so worried either. It could be Mr. Snart’s reputation as a thief, it could be both his and Sara’s affinity for causing trouble, or it could even be the fact that he’s very aware of the opinions many of his colleagues have in regards to Sara and one wrong move from her could easily make those worse. But despite whatever it may be he does trust them, so he pushed aside his nerves and followed their examples by getting out of the car.

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” Jax said, almost solemnly, when he arrived at work that next day.

“Hey,” Jackie replied cheerily, her usual bright smile lighting up her face as it almost always does.

Briefly Jax looked around for Ben but saw that he was nowhere to be seen, meaning he’s probably in his office, also meaning that Jackie’s happy face wasn’t an act.

“Um, so how are things between you and your parents?” He asked awkwardly, his friend merely shrugged.

“Could be worse,” she admitted, “Dad’s fine. He screamed once we dropped you off but then Trevor’s mom called, turns out I broke his arm.” She confessed and despite her having never given him a name for the ex-boyfriend before, Jax knew exactly who Trevor was.

“So the screaming got worse?” He guessed but she shook her head,

“He smiled and said he’s proud of me,” She admitted, that hadn’t been what Jax was expecting but it wasn’t exactly a bad thing either. “Mom on the other hand…” she trailed off, rolling her eyes and huffing out a sigh as she thought about the situation with her mother. “She and I aren’t really speaking,” she told him.

“I’m sorry,” Jax said but Jackie only shrugged again.

“She’ll get over it in a few days, she chewed me out and then chewed dad out for being proud that I broke Trevor’s arm. Once she was done she chewed me out some more, told me I need to start acting like a lady, even called Ben and tried to tell him I quit…” She trailed off staring vacantly into space, loosing herself in the painful memory of the argument with her mother.

Jax felt that he could do nothing but look at her sympathetically as he tried to imagine what the night had been like for her. She talks about her dad a lot, like he’s always been her best friend.

But her mom is another story.

Jax has tried to figure out, over the past few months, what Jackie’s relationship with her mother is really like. He knows that the woman doesn’t like her daughter working in a garage, doesn’t like how she never wears make-up, and doesn’t like how much she takes after her father. But what she hates the most, Jax is starting to see, is how her daughter doesn’t give a crap about her opinion.

“I’m-” he started to apologize again, but Jackie cut him off as she picked up a wrench so that she could distract herself with work.

“Don’t be, she’ll get over it soon enough.” She reminded both him and herself, before setting to work on an engine. Jax watched her for another few seconds before clocking in and starting his own assignments for the day.

“So was Kendra mad?” Jackie asked after a few moments of heavy quiet between the two of them.

“No, but Rip’s pretty pissed.” Jax mumbled absentmindedly, only when Jackie looked at him in complete confusion did he realize his mistake.

“Why does Rip care?” She finally asked

“Um, he’s just really uptight.” Jax excused, Jackie still didn’t look like she believed it. “Anyway, no. Kendra wasn’t too mad once I explained what happened.” He continued, Jackie still looked like she wanted to know why Rip cared but when he just returned to his work she didn’t ask any more questions and simply returned to hers.

 

* * *

 

Kendra had been about to step into the back room of the restaurant in order to double check the schedule for next week when she stopped short upon noticing that she could see two people in the room through the small window on the door. One was her boss, and she did not look happy. The other was another girl that Kendra recognized, though she had no idea what she was doing here. Even though she could only see her through the dirty window she still recognized the blonde head of hair and tired face as those belonging to a young woman she had only met once before, when she came to the house and picked up Haley on New Years day.

Madison is a very young woman, just barely twenty-one. Kendra doesn’t know much about her, she and the others had been careful not to pry into a situation that was not their business. From what she had pieced together Madison had gotten pregnant at seventeen with Haley and her mother kicked her out at some point, her father was never mentioned once so Kendra assumed he was long out of the picture. Haley’s father had most likely left her as well, because lord knows that man has never once been mentioned. The group does know how, well maybe Martin does but if so he’s never shared, but they’ve determined through some stray comments from Ingrid that she’s known Madison since she was in at least middle school and possibly even before that. It’s sound like she stayed with Ingrid for awhile after her mom kicked her out but she has an apartment now and is doing ok, which brings Kendra back to the question of what’s going on in that back room.

“Are they going at it again?” One of the cooks, Roger, asked as he came to stand beside his coworker.

“Again?” Kendra asked; she had no idea what was happening.

“That’s right, you only started a few months ago.” Rodger mused before pointing at the small window, “That is the daughter that Rebecca has so many problems with.” He explained and Kendra felt her eyes go wide, although a lot of things were suddenly making since. “She knows we start hiring a lot of new people after New Years, we get really busy between Valentines and St. Patrick’s day and then again in May straight through summer. She knows we always need people willing to work dayshifts and with Haley in preschool now that’s exactly what she needs, plus the pay here is better than at the job she has now.” He explained and although her eyes were locked onto the closed door, Kendra was listening to everything he said.

A part of her really couldn’t believe it. Rebecca, although very blunt and brash about her opinions, is genuinely nice woman. She had known that her daughter was around the same age as Jax and that she doesn’t live with her, but she had always assumed that the daughter moved out of her own accord. Rebecca had never struck Kendra as the type who would’ve kicked her daughter out, and although she did strike Kendra as the type who would disapprove greatly of a teen pregnancy, she didn’t think she would go so far as to do what she apparently did.

“What about John?” She finally asked, referring to the other co-owner of the restaurant who surely wouldn’t turn Madison away so easily.

“John would hire her in a heartbeat,” Roger confidently stated, “But he knows that this is Rebecca’s call and not his place to intervene, besides they only hire people they both agree on.” He answered and Kendra nodded, she had already known that.

The two of them stood there for another few minutes, silently waiting out the argument that they could not hear. They waited until, finally, Madison disappeared from sight and they were sure she had left.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to avoid going in there for a little while.” Roger said before leaving Kendra where she stood. She knew that he was probably right, and that leaving Rebecca alone would be what’s best for everyone. But she just couldn’t bring herself to turn away, and so she instead approached the door and poked her head in.

“Is everything ok in here?” She asked, Rebecca was quick to spin around at the sound of another voice.

“Peachy,” she replied harshly, Kendra didn’t miss the threat of tears in the other woman’s eyes.

“Are you sure?” She asked and in response the other woman groaned.

“It’s nothing Kendra,” She assured but Kendra only stepped more fully into he room.

“Roger explained it to me, it doesn’t sound like nothing.” She said but her boss only scoffed.

“Roger needs to mind his own business,” she deadpanned,

“You won’t at least consider her?” Kendra asked and again Rebecca scoffed as though the idea was absurd.

“If she’s old enough to have a kid, she’s old enough not to rely on her mommy for a job.” She snarled, but Kendra wasn’t buying it.

“She’s not asking you as her mom, she’s asking you as someone who owns a business and is looking to hire help.” She tried to tell her but Rebecca didn’t seem to care.

“Exactly,” she said, “The world doesn’t take pity on people like her, and this restaurant is part of the world.” Not Kendra knew that was a load of bull, she could tell that Rebecca was judging her daughter purely on her situation and not at all on whether or not Madison is actually skilled enough to handle a simple waitressing job.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on her?” She asked but Rebecca shook her head, a warning look in her eye.

“No, I don’t.” She said coldly before trying to walk past Kendra, but she didn’t heed the warning.

“What about yourself?” She asked just as Rebecca made it to the doorway, stopping and turning back upon hearing the question. “Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on yourself?” Kendra asked again.

“What do you mean?” She asked and Kendra gave a small sigh.

“Before I was with Ray, there was somebody else.” She confessed and not only could she tell that Rebecca was listening, but she also knew that she was going to have to word the story about Carter very carefully. “We had been together for a long time but at this point we were in two different places, and so we were fighting. I thought we had time to be mad at each other and then fix things, but there was an accident and he died before we could.” She admitted and Rebecca’s hard face finally softened.

“Kendra, I’m sorry.” She said but when Kendra met her eyes it wasn’t with a look of sadness, it was with seriousness and warning.

“Just remember that even when you think you have all the time in the world, it can run out before you even realize it.” She advised, Rebecca’s face finally softening just a tad as she thought the story over.

“I’ll consider giving her a chance here,” she finally agreed and Kendra smiled a bright and beaming smile; that was all she could ask.

 

 

* * *

 

Sara and Len were able to fix the furnace with a fair amount of ease and were done just before one o’clock. Unfortunately for them Stein was their ride home and he was still working on some paper work, leaving them to sit bored in his office. There was only one extra chair, which Sara was slouched in with her knees hanging over the box like armrest. Len was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, and entertaining himself with a stress ball.

“Can we go home yet?” Sara whined like a little girl, although in her defense they had been sitting quietly in here for over an hour waiting for Stein.

“Soon, I’m almost done grading these papers.” Stein promised for what felt like the hundredth time, and to be honest it probably was.

Sara groaned, dipping her head back in frustration and so with a sign Len began to dig through his deep pocket.

“Here,” he said, showing Sara that he had pulled out a deck of cards.

“You’ve had those this entire time?” She asked, picking her head up so she could see what he was holding.

He shrugged with a smirk and so she rolled her eyes but got off the chair and sat down across from him as he dealt the cards.

 

* * *

 

The weeks went by in a blur after that, the news that the Waverider could be fixed within the month leaving the team with mixed feelings, but still a renewed drive to make progress on the ship so that they could return to their mission. If he were being honest, the whole situation was starting to remind Jax of an old show that he used to watch every now and again. It was about a family from the year 2121, when people used time machines as if they were RV’s and time travel was a vacation. The family of this show had taken one of these trips when their time machine broke down in the year 2004, and so they spent two years living in the past and fixing their machine in secret. But for the team it hasn’t been two years, it’s been four months and already some of them have gotten attached to this place. Anyway the improvements on the Waverider were coming along quickly now, it’s mostly only minor things need to be repaired now and Ray even managed to dislodge the knife from Sara’s bed and repair the hole (although he realized his mistake when he told Sara and she looked less than pleased with the news, clearly she hadn’t been trying very hard to make the repair). But that aside things were going well and Jax was currently helping Rip with what they were thinking was going to be the very last bit of repairs: Gideon.

“Alright, just one final adjustment here and we should be all set.” Rip said as he reached up tentatively with his tool to fuse one damaged wire back together with it’s other end, Jax watching with baited breath. A faint beeping sound was briefly heard overhead once he finished before it stopped, both men looking up as though they expected for something to appear on the ceiling.

“Gideon?” Rip called nervously.

“Hello Captain Hunter,” The AI’s familiar and cheerful as always voice chimed, Rip and Jax each let the air out of their lungs with relief.

“It is so good to hear your voice, Gideon.” Jax said, a bright and eager smile lighting up his face.

“You as well Mr. Jackson.” The AI said, sounding as though she were also very relieved that her systems had been turned back on.

“What’s the status on the ship?” Rip asked,

“It appears that the ship’s physical structures, both internal and external, are clear for time jumping. I will need to do a reboot of the ships mainframe and other systems, which should be complete in a matter of twelve hours.” Gideon chimed and Rip smiled, twelve hours.

 

* * *

 

 

“We got Gideon working again,” Jax announced excitedly as he entered his and Len’s room just a few minutes later, the excited and proud smile still present on his face and making him look like a child who had just aced their first test.

“That’s great!” Sara congratulated from her seat on Snart’s bed, looking up from her cards to talk to him.

Jax smiled at her, he could tell that this news truly did make her happy. If he was being honest, he liked her hanging out in the room with Snart so much. They’d become better friends ever since she and Snart started… well whatever it is that they call it. If he didn’t know better he would say they’re dating but unfortunately he does know better. They give off that vibe you get in high school from the two of your friends who everyone knows should be a couple, and really the only reason they aren’t is probably because they’re having too much fun with the chase.

“Good job kid,” Snart praised in a slightly distracted voice before he laid down his cards. “Full house,” he declared with a smirk and with a growl Sara handed him the five lollipops that had been lying next to her.

“Where’d you get lollipops?” Jax asked with sudden interest, his roommates (because at this point Sara pretty much shared that title) had stopped playing for money after one night when Sara kicked Len’s ass three games in a row and so he resorted to betting the cookies that he hides in the storage bin under his bed.

“It was Ray’s turn to go grocery shopping and he found a big bag on the clearance shelf,” Sara explained and Snart held one of his winnings out to him.

“Here, since you were busy when we stole them.” He offered and Jax took the piece of candy.

“Thanks,” he said before happily unwrapping the candy and placing it in his mouth.

He was about to go take a seat at his desk, or maybe even just crash on his bed for a few minutes, when suddenly Rip’s voice came ringing from downstairs.

“Family meeting!” The Englishman called, the three occupants of the room exchanged glances before all getting up and making their way downstairs. 

“Family meeting!” Rip called again as everyone came from various parts of the house, following the sound of his voice into the living room.

“What’s going on?” Kendra asked as she took a seat on the couch, Ray plopping himself down beside her. Snart sat down in the folding chair before Stein could grab it, forcing the older man to stand in the doorway while Jax just took a seat on the floor. Sara thought about joining him, but instead decided it would be more fun to annoy Len and sat down on his lap. The joke ended up being on her, however, because he didn’t miss a beat when she sat down and wrapped his arms loosely but securely around her waist, not that she had any objections of course.

“Alright so, Gideon is now up and running.” Rip announced; a few cheers rang out from those in the room who didn’t already know. “Once she’s completed a reboot on the Waverider’s computer we will be able to proceed with the mission, which we should be able to do my tomorrow morning.” He announced, the cheers quickly died.

“Wait, tomorrow?” Ray asked, “Come on Rip, I know you’ve basically been a hermit this whole time but the rest of us have friends here, and jobs. At least give us a few hours to say goodbye.” He requested and while many of his teammates agreed with him they could also hear a scolding about time drift coming on.

“Well technically you have the rest of tonight,” Rip said, folding his arms.

“Dude, it’s past supper time already.” Jax argued, knowing that they would get to say goodbye to very few people with the sun having already set.

“Besides, it’s rude to quit your job without giving two weeks notice.” Kendra added; she didn’t hate 1986 nearly as much as she hated 1958-1960 and so was a little more in favor of saying goodbye this time around.

“We do not have two weeks!” Rip exclaimed, his patience wearing thin.

“Rip we’ve been stuck here for almost five months, two more weeks is not going to kill us.” Sara said and while the Captain huffed in annoyance it had become clear to him that no member of his crew was going to set foot on the Waverider in the morning, so he gave in.

“Fine, but two weeks is it!” He declared,

“Fair enough,” Ray agreed.


	19. The Last Few Days

The two weeks went by in almost a blur, and honestly some members of the team were wishing they had more time. They needed an excuse as to why they were leaving so suddenly, and it turns out that the mysterious business Stein and Rip had supposedly run in the past could do the trick. It was simple really, and gave an excuse as to why Rip doesn’t have much of a social life. Their story went that ever since the group moved here he’s been working on a business deal out west and has finally closed it. Ingrid was the hardest to convince of this because she knew that Stein would’ve said something to her. In the end she gave the old man the silent treatment for the first of their remaining two weeks and after that she wished him the best and assured him that she was sure he had his reasons, in all honesty she was probably still mad but just didn’t want to ruin the last few days she would have with her friend.

Kendra went to give her boss her two weeks notice the day after Rip’s family meeting but stopped short when she caught sight of Madison training at one of the registers, Rebecca sending her a glare that instructed her not to say anything. Kendra beamed a bright smile but obeyed her boss’s silent order and decided to go find John instead.

 

* * *

 

When the two weeks were up the group decided to go out to dinner the night before they would be leaving. They went back to the pizza place, the one they had gone to on their first night here in 1986. They elected to order two pizza’s this time, one Hawaiian and one sausage and mushrooms.

“So we’ll leave first thing in the morning?” Rip asked,

“What’s the rush?” Sara asked as she took a bite of her pizza.

“Do I seriously need to answer that, Miss Lance?” Rip asked and Sara rolled her eyes.

“I’m just saying that there’s really no need for us all to be waking up at the crack of dawn.” She argued,

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Stein scolded her like a child.

“I never said anything about the crack of dawn,” Rip argued back, trying to cut Sara off from responding to Martin.

“Alright, alright.” Kendra cut in, stopping the fight before it could get too bad. “It’s our last night here so let’s drop the issue and act like a normal family.” She reprimanded,

“No offence Kendra, but this family is a far cry from normal.” Len interjected before grabbing another slice of the Hawaiian pizza.

“Well normal or not, we’ve managed to survive five months as a family and all things considered I think we did alright.” Ray congratulated.

“Sure, when you weren’t setting everything in the house on fire.” Len remarked and the others laughed while Ray just chuckled nervously.

“Hopefully that’s a skill I’ll leave in 1986,” he joked,

“Which reminds me, you did unplug the iron right?” Kendra asked her fiancé, who promptly paled with wide and panic-stricken eyes at her question.

“Ray?” Sara asked, leveling a glare with her supposed cousin.

“I thought you did,” He said to Kendra,

“No, you were the last one to use it!” Kendra exclaimed, briefly everyone panicked internally before they hurriedly flagged down their waitress and asked for the check. They promptly paid for the pizza before rushing out to the car and hurrying to get back to the house.

 

* * *

 

When they got home they all considered it a good sign that the place looked ok from the outside. That being said they all still went rushing up to Ray and Kendra’s attic bedroom where, sure enough, they found a decent sized flame consuming one of Ray’s shirts on top of the ironing board. Len, as usual, put out the fire with his gun before turning on Ray with an annoyed glare.

“One night,” he said, “You only had to go one more night without setting anything on fire!” He exclaimed before marching past the others and making his way back down the steps, every intention set on going to the kitchen and resetting the “Days Without a Fire” count.

 

* * *

 

After the fire was forgotten and the last of whatever they were bringing with them on the Waverider was packed up the team decided that they might as well watch a movie. They had bought a few VHS tapes in the past five months, and much to Rip’s dismay one of those was _Back to the Future_ , and it would be coming with them onto the ship no matter how much he hated it. But tonight they were watching the 1971 classic _Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory_, which he didn’t mind all that much. One thing he, along with the rest of the team for that matter, did find amusing was Sara’s reaction to the film. The woman his a trained assassin, has seen the inside of the Lazarus Pit, fought Vandal Savage among many other psychopaths, and yet the children’s movie about a magical candy factory had her huddling in a ball and looking away every ten minutes or so.

“Perhaps we should watch something else?” Stein suggested when the scene on the boat began playing and Sara all but shoved her head between the back cushions of the couch.

Len, who was sitting on the floor in front of Sara, looked over his shoulder at her and sighed as he mulled over the professor’s idea.

“No, you all made me watch _Back to the Future_!” Rip argued, clearly movie night had turned into a revenge mission for him at some point.

“You aren’t AFRAID of _Back to the Future_.” Ray reminded him and he was just about to argue again but Sara stopped him.

“I’m fine,” she assured her friends, slowly peeking out from behind the cushions as if to see if it was safe to look or not. “I’m fine,” she said again, none of them believed her but they continued watching the movie anyway.

After the movie ended both Stein and Rip headed off to bed while the others decided that they weren’t tired yet so they were going to put another tape in. They decided to put on the newest edition to their movie collection, _The Breakfast Club_. Halfway thought the second film, around the time most of the kids were just starting to escape the library, Sara got up with a yawn.

“I’m going to bed,” she said tiredly,

“Mine or yours?” Len teased as she sauntered out of the room and towards the stairs.

“Yours,” she called over her shoulder, this didn’t surprise anyone considering that at this point she hadn’t even touched her own bed in over a month.

Fifteen minutes later and Len found himself as the next one getting up, looking down at Jax as he did so.

“You coming up kid?” He asked as he stretched.

“Um, I’m actually gonna sleep on the couch tonight. There’s something coming on at three a.m. that I don’t want to miss.” He excused and while it did nothing to eliminate the arched eyebrow that his roommate was giving him the older man still nodded and turned to go on his way.

“Night,” he murmured as he left the living room.

“Night,” Came a mix of replies from the three members of the team still in the room.

“What could possibly be on at three a.m.?” Ray questioned Jax once Len was safely out of earshot.

“Nothing,” the younger man admitted, “But him and Sara need to do something about that whole not talking about their feelings thing and clearly they’re not going to do it in daylight.” He explained and both Ray and Kendra smirked, they knew that was true.

 

* * *

 

Len was silent as he got ready for bed, which was pointless considering he knew that Sara was still awake. She rolled over when he started changing into his pajamas and then didn’t roll back as he crawled into bed beside her. He found himself looking into her bright blue eyes as he settled beside her, as opposed to the back of her head like normal.

“Jax is staying downstairs, something about a show at three in the morning.” He told her and she couldn’t help but laugh at the obvious lie, they both knew what he was trying to do.

“Must be a good show,” She commented and Len smirked,

“Him and the others must think we’re going to make the most of our last night sharing a bed.” He commented,

“Does that mean we’re getting back at them by NOT making the most of it?” Sara asked, her voice taking on a slightly teasing tone.

Len shrugged in his position next to her, though it was mostly ineffective considering he was lying on his side.

“Up to you,” he said, she rolled her eye before her face grew serious.

“I had a few one night stands after I came back from the dead, but I never felt anything with them.” She confessed before flicking her eyes up to meet his. “I don’t want that to happen with you, I don’t want to not feel.” She admitted; for a moment Len didn’t know what to say.

“Who was the last person you did feel something with?” He asked, choosing not to try and talk her into anything she isn’t sure about just yet.

“Nyssa,” she replied readily,

“Did you love her?” He asked and she nodded.

“Yes,” she said, it was his turn to nod. “What about you?” She asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

He thought about the question for a minute, thought long and hard, but no matter how hard he wracked his mind he couldn’t think of anyone who had made him feel anything compared to the blonde woman lying next to him.

“I don’t think so,” it wasn’t really a lie in his mind, because he still isn’t sure if these feelings he has towards her are feelings of love or not.

“Hm,” she hummed before closing her eyes and snuggling further under the blankets that were already pulled up to her chin. In response to her movement Len wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her ever so slightly closer to him, trying to give her some added warmth. “You really are a big teddy bear,” She mocked teasingly as her head lay on his chest. That was new for them, because sure Len has wrapped his arm around her waist before but always from behind. Never have the both shifted to lay on their backs with her using him as a pillow like this.

“Shut up assassin,” He sighed and so of course she laughed, suddenly forgetting any reservations she had against this at the sound of his voice.

“No,” she said defiantly, Len adjusted himself so that she could see the eyebrow he had raised at her.

“No?” He asked in a teasing voice, “I hate to break it to you Canary but you don’t talk in your sleep, meaning you’ll shut up eventually.” He mocked but her response was to laugh evilly.

“Maybe I won’t go to sleep then,” she suggested and Len hummed in thought of the idea of staying up all night, because he knew that if she did then so would he.

“Well if you’re going to talk all night, at least say something interesting,” he finally said.

“Like what?” Sara asked, her tone of voice indicating that it was almost a challenge.

“I don’t know…” Len said, trailing off as he thought. “What’s your middle name?” He finally asked and Sara couldn’t help but scoff in a laugh.

“You want to know my middle name?” She questioned,

“Sure, why not?” He replied, she laughed at the idea for a second time but could tell that he was very much serious.

“Elizabeth,” she told him, “Yours?”

“Daniel,” He confessed,

“Leonard Daniel Snart,” Sara mused as she grabbed on of his hands and began playing absentmindedly with his fingers. “It suits you,” she finally said.

“What is even the purpose of middle names exactly?” He asked after a minute and she shrugged.

“If you don’t like your first name, you have a second choice?” She guessed and he laughed, “That’s what I always thought, my sister goes by her middle because she didn’t like having the same name as our mom.” She continued, Laurel had chosen to go by “Laurel” when she was so young that some parents wouldn’t have let her make a decision like that, but that being said Sara does still remember a few times when their father called for “Dinah” and both Laurel and their mom answered.

“What’s your sister like?” Len found himself asking, Sara thought for a moment before answering.

“Protective,” she finally replied, “Even after I died she was protecting me, she’s the one who brought me back.” She explained before continuing to tell Leonard all about Laurel. “It’s funny,” she finally said after she felt she had told him enough, “My dad, Ollie, me, we all tried to shield Laurel from all the darkness in our lives but all she wanted to do was shield us from it.” She concluded, “What about your sister?” She asked and he gave a sigh.

“Personally I think she turned out alright considering she was raised by an abusive bastard who was in and out of jail all the time, a criminal brother, and a grandfather who developed dementia in his later years. I remember dad was in prison from the time she was eleven through the time she was fourteen, that was fun.” He said sarcastically and so despite the topic Sara found herself chuckling.

“Was she a bratty teenager?” She asked,

“She had her moments,” Len admitted, “But it wasn’t that so much as it was trying to get her through puberty without scarring us both for life.” He explained and Sara didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe, so she ended up doing a little of both.

“How did that work out?” She asked, her voice coated thick with sarcasm but he answered anyway.

“We had a few mishaps but all things considered it could’ve gone worse,” he replied.

“What were these mishaps?” Sara asked mockingly; against his better judgment Len proceeded to tell her a few cringe worthy highlights of him raising his sister and she countered a few with some of her own stories.

Eventually they got onto some less disturbing topics from their pasts; Juvie, Lian Yu, baseball games, and old friends just to name a few. They talked nearly all night long, and it may not have been what Jax thought they would do with the alone time but they both knew that they had still, somehow, played right into his trap.

 

* * *

 

It was seven in the morning when, of all things, the sound of the phone woke Jax. The sound of it ringing startled him awake and he groaned upon realizing what it was, half surprised that Rip hadn’t disconnected it already. Seeing that he was still the only one downstairs he rolled off the couch and dragged himself to the kitchen where he picked up the irritating appliance.

“Hello?” He asked groggily into the other end, trying to shake off the sleep in his voice but failing in the most part.

“Jax? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake, wake you up.” Jax’s blood ran cold.

It was Jackie on the other end, she didn’t sound as urgent and panicked as she had the last time she called but she still sounded far unlike her usual self.

“What happened?” He asked, the sleep suddenly completely gone from his voice now.

She told him what had happened, occasionally choking on a word or two, and when she was done he hung up the phone, scribbled a note for the others, and bolted out the front door.


	20. No Man Left Behind

“Alright, are we all set to go?” Rip asked in an unusually cheery voice as he headed into the kitchen on the morning they were supposed to leave.

“We would be if we could find Jax,” Kendra replied from her seat at the table.

“What?” Rip asked, his mood suddenly deflating.

“Jax decided to sleep on the couch last night so he could watch something at three in the morning, but when we came down this morning he was gone.” Ray informed their now very distressed captain.

“And before you ask, no he didn’t change his mind and go to bed.” Sara supplied,

“Did he leave a note?” Rip asked and the others all exchanged glances with each other before they began looking around the kitchen.

“Well what do you know, Rip is good for something after all.” Len announced as he picked up a piece of scrap paper that had been pinned halfway under a bowl on the counter.

He read it, then read it again to make sure he wasn’t mistaken, then sprinted to the nearest window with view of the driveway only to confirm that Jax had taken the car.

“What is it?” Sara asked, Ray and herself chasing after Len.

“Kid got attached to 1986,” Len replied as he handed Sara the note, she gasped upon reading it.

“What is it?” Kendra echoed Sara’s words as Ray took the note.

“He went to meet Jackie at the hospital,” He announced, his eyes growing wide with panic.

 

* * *

 

By the time Jax made it to the hospital it was nearly eight and when he found Jackie she was sitting in the waiting room alone and staring vacantly down at her feet.

“Jackie,” He breathed out, she looked up at the sound of her name and upon seeing her best friend walking towards her she practically sprung to her feet and locked her arms tightly around his neck.

Jax was slightly taken off guard by this, although not as much as last time, and he recovered much quicker. He held her flush against him and for the first time noticed how small she really is. He noticed that she was standing on her toes to reach him, and he noticed how fragile she felt in his arms, despite the fact that he knows she could break them if she wanted to.

“I’m sorry, Ben wasn’t picking up and-” she murmured against his chest before he cut her off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her,

“It’s just, I know you’re leave today.” She said, finally pulling out of the embrace.

“Not until later,” Jax assured her, he was lying but she didn’t seem to notice and if she did she didn’t say anything. Besides, if Rip wants to leave so badly then he and the rest of the team can go and leave him behind for all he cares. “Now come on and tell me what happened,” He prompted, his hands not once leaving his friend’s shoulders.

She explained it all to him, albeit with shaky words and a tear coated voice. There had been an accident. Considering all the times the group as used that for cover (his and Kendra’s supposed mother along with Ray’s parents) they should’ve known that it would actually happen to someone they’re close to sooner or later. Jackie’s parents had gone out, their usual date night, when some lunatic going 90 mph ran a red light and crashed into them. Her dad died on impact, her mom made it halfway to the hospital; she got the call at eleven last night.

Eleven.

“You were here by yourself all night?” He asked in disbelief,

“I needed to deal with it by myself for awhile,” she replied, “By the time I could bring myself to call someone everyone I could’ve called would’ve been asleep, I waited until I was sure someone would probably be up or at least about to get up.” She said before burying her head in her hands. They were sitting by now, side by side in two waiting room chairs, and Jax gave her a moment before she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dragged you into this.” She apologized for the umpteenth time.

“No, you’re my friend and I don’t care where I am or where-” he stopped himself, knowing that he couldn’t finish that sentence and leave her with a broken promise. He can’t always be around for her; he’s going to continue on the mission and then return back to 2016. The best he can do is abandon her now and go find her again when she’s fifty and apologize to her, and that is far from a good scenario. “Listen Jackie, I’m not from here.” He began, knowing very well that Rip is SO going to kill him for this. But he’ll deal with it, because he CAN’T leave his friend behind like this. She has to know where he’s going, after losing her parents she deserves that much.

“I know,” Jackie said, wiping at her eyes and sniffling.

“No I mean…” He halted, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “I’m not from 1986, I’m from the future.” He confessed, just waiting for her to say he was crazy and that she doesn’t need to deal with this right now.

“I know,” She said again, much to Jax’s surprise it ended up being him looking at her like she was crazy.

“What?” He demanded, “How?” He asked and she laughed, a real laugh, which of course brought some joy to his heart.

“I spend my free time reading comic books, the impossible is the first thing my mind goes to.” She teased, “Besides, you were amazed that people in 1986 use CD’s.” Jax cringed at the reminder of his slip up; he had really thought he talked his way out of that one. “Aside from that I see lock pickers every day at work, and yours are some kind of weird model that does not exist.” She said, reminding Jax that the girl is an expert with tools and saw what he used to steal the car.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He finally asked her, she shrugged.

“I figured you’d tell me when you were ready, or that you were trying to avoid messing up the timeline.” She replied, “So why have seven people from the future, who I’m guessing aren’t actually all related, been living in 1986/87 for the past few months?” She questioned and Jax sighed, Rip was definitely going to kill him now. “If you can’t tell me, I get it.” Jackie said when he didn’t say anything.

“No I- look, you’ve been here all night. Why don’t I bring you back to the house so you can take a shower and I’ll deal with Rip.” He suggested, grateful when she nodded instead of asking why Rip would be an issue, although she had probably figured out by now that there is a reason.

 

* * *

 

 

“YOU WHAT!?!?” Rip bellowed when Jax explained to him what had happened. He had been mad when the youngest member of the team returned to the house with Jackie, because doing so delayed their plans. But now, now he was downright furious.

“Hey, in my defense, she already had us figured out.” Jax defended, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. Jackie was currently using their shower but it wouldn’t surprise him if she could hear this conversation even over the sound of the water.

“Oh because that makes it so much better!” Rip snarled,

“She’s not going to tell anyone!” Jax insisted,

“And how do you know that?” Rip demanded, “All this time she had us figured out she probably thought she was crazy! But now that you’ve confirmed it, what’s stopping her?” He continued and that had Jax scowling and balling his fists, beyond pissed not only that Rip would think so low of Jackie but also that considering what she’s going through this is where his mind is.

“Jackie’s not going to rat us out,” Sara interjected,

“You’re right, she’s not.” Rip suddenly and suspiciously agreed, “Because we are going to leave right now!” He announced,

“What?” Jax questioned in disbelief,

“Rip,” Ray said sternly but the captain was already heading for the door.

“Rip we can’t just leave her like this!” Sara argued, prompting Rip to turn on his heel and face her.

“Yes we can, we’ve lingered in this era far past long enough and we certainly can’t afford to be here when a twenty year old girl exposes time travel!” He shouted,

“I’m staying,” Jax’s voice rang out over Rip’s, cutting Sara off before she could respond to the captain, which was most likely going to be less of a verbal response and more of a punch to the face.

“What?” Rip asked; the room was coated in a heavy silence now, and rightfully so.

“You can leave now if you want to, but Jackie’s my friend and she needs somebody, so I’m staying.” He deadpanned, both his face and voice more serious than anyone on the team had ever witnessed.

There was a long beat of silence, and although everyone had their eyes fixed on Jax they were all daring Rip to make the next move. But it wasn’t Rip who did that; instead it was Stein who stepped forward.

“If Jefferson and I are separated the effects will be disastrous, so if he will be remaining here in 1986 then so shall I.” He announced, moving to stand next to his partner.

“All of Stein’s friends are convinced I’m a deadbeat, so there’ll be a lot of questions if I move out.” Sara excused as she went and joined the two.

“Not to mention the questions about Jax’s sister leaving,” Kendra said before moving to stand on the other side of her supposed brother.

“As far as the world is concerned, Kendra and I are married. I couldn’t leave without her even if I wanted to.” Ray said, proceeding to move and wrap his arms around his fiancée.

Rip looked at Len, as if asking what he was going to do, and Len just glared back at him.

“If you think I want to be stuck on that ship with just you, you’re more delusional than I thought.” He said and headed over to join the group. Rip could pout and scream all he wanted; they weren’t leaving.

 

* * *

 

After a very long and somewhat violent conversation with Rip, Jax went with Jackie to her house to get a few of her things because the team had convinced (more like overwhelmingly outvoted) their captain that Jackie shouldn’t be alone and to let her stay with them at least until they buried her parents. She only grabbed a few things; toothbrush, hairbrush, some clothes, a towel, soap, and a teddy bear. Sara offered to let her stay in her room, but warned her about the cold. She said that she didn’t mind and so now Jax and her were sitting on Sara’s bed, discussing the day’s events.

“So… when exactly are you from?” Jackie questioned, as much as she was hurting after the deaths of her parents she didn’t want to think about it, she needed a distraction, and Jax could provide the perfect one.

“2016,” he replied and her eyes went wide.

“Wow,” She gasped, “So what are you guys doing here?” She asked for the second time that day.

“It’s a long story,” Jax replied but Jackie only shrugged, she wanted to hear it.

So he told her, he didn’t care if she knew now. In fact, he was glad she knew. He was thrilled that he didn’t have to keep such a secret from her anymore. So he told her all about each and every one of them, their powers for those of them who had any, about Savage, and about how they ended up here.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you think we should include Jax in this?” Kendra asked, while Jax was up in Sara’s room with Jackie Rip had called everyone to gather around the kitchen table in another meeting.

“Jax is bias towards this issue,” Rip replied as he sat down.

“Bias?” Sara asked, “Rip she’s his friend and she just lost her parents, we can’t leave her alone!” She exclaimed,

“She won’t be alone, there has to be someone in this town who cares about her.” Rip argued but hardly anyone was all that convinced. “We can’t stay here forever,” he said with a sigh, because they all had to know that.

“We could take her with us,” Sara suggested, voicing the option that everyone was silently considering.

“We can’t remove her from the timeline,” Rip immediately said,

“We’ll bring her back to the exact moment she leaves, just like you’re doing with the rest of us.” Ray promised, for the record Rip did seem to be considering the idea so that’s probably a good sign.

“I’ll go out to the ship and check with Gideon, see if Jackie is important to the timeline.” He agreed.

“I’ll go with you,” Sara said, rising from her seat before Rip could do so from his.

“Afraid I’m going to lie if she’s not and say she is?” He asked and judging by the look she gave him, he had guessed correctly.

 

* * *

 

 

About ten minutes later Rip found himself out at the Waverider with Sara just behind him.

“Gideon?” He called as they entered the bridge,

“Yes Captain Hunter?” The AI chimed in reply,

“Can you please tell me if removing a miss Jacqueline Durand from the timeline would have any negative effects on the future?” He requested, of course if they brought Jackie home after the mission then it wouldn’t be a problem but just like he had with the other selected members of the crew they needed to make sure nothing would happen to the timeline if something, god forbid, were to happen to her.

“Of course Captain,” Gideon chirped, a few minutes went by in silence before she spoke up again. “It appears that Miss Durand is not integral to the timeline,” she announced; Rip knew that Sara was pleased with the news, and that the rest of the team would be too, but he was just nervous about this whole idea.

“Thank you Gideon,” he said, about to turn away when Gideon spoke up again.

“In fact she is set to disappear five days from the current date,” she announced, now that gained Rip’s attention.

“Disappear?” He asked, turning back towards the main console where Gideon was displaying a few articles that all vaguely detailed the disappearance of Jax’s friend.

“Yes sir; in five days time Miss Durand will attend her parents funeral, that will be the last time that anyone will see her alive. Investigations into her case end after approximately one year, it is believed that she died but no body has ever been found.” Sara raised an eyebrow at all this, her own theory about what really happens to Jackie already coming together in her mind.

“So what’s the call Rip?” She asked after a moment or two of total silence from the captain.

 

* * *

 

“We have to bring her with us,” Jax argued later on that night, it was well past midnight and everyone had gone to bed, so naturally Sara had decided now was a great time to tell Jax that his best friend will disappear.

“Take it up with Rip,” she said, sitting up in bed when Jax did the same across the room.

“It can’t be a coincidence that she disappears a week after her parents die, what does history think happened to her?” He demanded and Sara gave an uncomfortable sigh, she had skimmed through some of those articles.

“She was pronounced dead after a year,” she admitted and Jax scoffed.

“If she dies, it ain’t no accident.” He deadpanned, his voice boarding on hysterical. The panic he was feeling only intensified when he saw look of reluctance that Sara gave him and it made his blood run colder than it ever has before.

“They don’t think it was,” she said. For a moment Jax looked as though he might be sick, and then he was springing out of bed and hurrying off to Rip and Stein’s room.

“So what do you think happens to the kid?” Len questioned Sara, wrapping an arm around her waist and gently pulling her back down.

“I think she runs away on a time ship to save the world, then follows her boyfriend back to 2016.” She said with a knowing smile, Len smiled in agreement and pulled her closer to him.

“I didn’t think they were dating yet,” He said against her shoulder, not having to look to know that her smile brightened even more.

“Not yet,” she admitted before twisting around in his arms so that she could face him. “But who knows, a lot can happen when you’re traveling through time.”

 

* * *

 

“RIP!” Jax bellowed, pounding on the bedroom door. “RIP!” He shouted again, this time the sound of a door opening across the hall cut him off, and he found Jackie tiredly poking her head out of Sara’s room.

“Jax?” She asked, rubbing her eyes despite it being obvious that she hadn’t been sleeping, more likely than not she had been crying.

“Hey,” he said, his voice suddenly growing soft and all the rage leaving his body.

“What’s going on?” She asked and for a moment he panicked, knowing that he can’t tell her about her potential lack of a future.

“Nothing,” He lied, she knew he was lying, and he knew she knew.

“Whatever,” she huffed; she wouldn’t pressure him to tell her and instead just turned to go back to bed.

“Wait,” Jax called, effectively getting her to turn around. “Are you ok?” He asked and she looked at him with a sad smile.

“No,” she answered honestly, “But I will be,” she assured him, “Goodnight,” she said, once again turning back into Sara’s room.

“Goodnight,” Jax said as he watched her bedroom door close behind her.


	21. Back to the Future

The week went by all too slowly and all too fast all at once. Jackie, though it was evident at times that she didn’t exactly want to, got up every morning and dragged herself through the day. Ben tried to get her to take some time off of work but she kept refusing. Besides, Ben had been a friend of her parents’ and so he was helping with the funeral, and Jackie certainly didn’t want to think about that in the hours that she doesn’t necessarily have to. Jax kept trying to lift her spirits by telling her stories about the future, despite any and all protests from Rip. It seemed to be working to, as she would sound genuinely happy whenever he started talking about the days yet to come. He supposed it was because with her entire world in shambles all around her the stories were a reminder to her, that the world is still turning and she does have things to look forward to.

But when the night before the funeral arrived Jackie was visibly starting to crack. She had holed herself up in her room, well technically Sara’s room but that’s beside the point, all day and only come out for dinner. After dinner she returned to her room and Jax knew that if he was going to have any luck bringing her out of her funk tonight then he was going to have to do better than some stories.

“Jackie?” He asked, knocking on her door before poking his head into the room. He found her sitting on her bed, looking over the words in some kind of information packet about apartments.

“Hey,” she said, snapping her head up. He sighed at the sight of her; she had been looking almost all week for an apartment and reading anything she could find that could explain finances to her. She knows the basics of course but not enough and now she doesn’t have her parents to teach her. “What’s up?” She asked; Jax walked a little further into the room before answering her.

“Rip says we’re leaving tomorrow, after the funeral.” He informed her,

“I know, and I’m trying to figure where I’ll be going.” She reminded him, sounding like she was growing very frustrated with the idea of tomorrow coming. Rip had already explained to her, though she hadn’t actually had the courage to ask, that her parents deaths were an event that could not have been prevented.

“You’ve been working on that all day, why don’t you take a break?” Jax suggested and she huffed in annoyance.

“Because how will that help me?” She all but snapped; she truly was getting fed up at this point.

“It’ll clear your head,” Jax promised and Jackie did seem to consider that, “Come on, I want to show you something.”

 

* * *

 

“Whoa,” Jackie said in awe when Jax dragged her out into the woods and they came to a stop outside of a massive spaceship. “So that contest was completely bogus, wasn’t it?” She asked and Jax laughed,

“You didn’t figure that part out?” He asked in disbelief and Jackie gave a shrug.

“I was hopeful,” she replied with a small laugh, recognizing that she probably shouldn’t have fallen for the hoax to begin with.

They made their way inside and Jackie was even more amazed by the interior of the ship, it looked like something straight out of her comic books.

“We all made that face too,” Jax admitted when his friend’s jaw dropped.

“I don’t blame you,” she said and he just couldn’t fight the smirk that was crossing his face. He could see it in her eyes, on her face, that for a moment she had forgotten. She had forgotten her pain, her worry, her frustrations, all of it. Right now the only part of her that was present was the sci-fi loving girl who was seeing something she had only ever been able to dream about.

He showed her around the ship; showed her all the bunks, the med bay, and even introduced her to Gideon, which had garnered even more amazement from her. She trailed behind him in wonder, gazing at everything that they passed by.

“You are so lucky,” she finally said as they returned to the bridge,

“Oh yeah, I get to go psycho hunting tomorrow.” He joked and she laughed,

“I would do that in a second.” She told him and although he remained smiling, it was a softer smile now as he leaned against the main console.

“So why don’t you?” He asked and she looked at him in total confusion,

“What?” She asked, a small and almost knowing smile starting to find its way onto her lips as she began to realize what he meant.

“Come with us,” he offered,

“Isn’t that up to Rip?” Jackie asked with a disbelieving laugh, a chance like this was something beyond her wildest dreams, which is saying something because like most kids who grew up on comic books her dreams could get pretty wild.

“He’s on the fence about it,” Jax admitted, pushing himself off the table in order to stand closer to his friend. “But it’ll help if he knows you actually want to come,” he assured her and for a minute she was practically speechless.

“What would I tell Ben?” She finally asked, knowing full well that her boss is literally the only other person in this town that she actually has.

“I trust Ben, most of the team does too. Rip might not but he’s not the best judge of character,” he admitted and she laughed, “Tell him the truth,” he said,

“He would never believe me, he’d try and send me therapy.” She said but Jax only shrugged.

“You’d be flying into the time stream before he could,” he assured her and she let out a nervous sort of giggle, suddenly realizing how close to him she was standing.

“This is insane,” she deadpanned with a bright smile, one that told Jax there just might be a “But” coming at the end of that sentence.

However he never got the chance to find out. He and Jackie had been standing extremely close, so close that if either had thought about it the distance would’ve been exceptionally easy to close. But they never got that chance either, because apparently they were no longer alone.

“Oh God!” The surprised voice rang out and not only snapped the two in the bridge back to reality but also prompted them to jump away from each other, despite nothing having happened. They snapped their heads to the main doorway where Sara and Len were standing, Sara having been the one to shout in surprise.

“Sorry to interrupt the party,” Len drawled.

“What?” Jax asked before realization struck him, “No! I was just showing Jackie the ship.” He defended before realizing there was another question at hand, “What are you guys doing out here?” He asked; Len rolled his eyes.

“Well we WERE going to bed, we thought you two were in our room and so we needed another place to sleep.” He excused, at that Jackie crossed her arms and joined the conversation.

“What about Sara’s room?” She asked,

“I haven’t slept there in months, it’s your room.” Sara replied,

“Ok so why didn’t you just-” Jax cut himself off, realizing what his roommates had thought he and Jackie were doing. “Come on man,” he said in a disappointed voice but Len just shrugged.

“Lesson learned; I’ll knock next time.” He promised before turning to Sara,

“Are you going to hike all the way back to the house?” He questioned and she thought about it, or more specifically thought about how on the ship there is no excuse for her and Len to be sharing a bed and now that people know they’re out here they would need an excuse.

“Yeah, your bed is more comfortable.” She answered, thus giving him a reason to follow her.

“Agreed,” he said and with that they headed off the ship, leaving Jackie and Jax standing alone on the bridge once again.

“Do they think they’re fooling anybody?” Jackie asked once the crook and the assassin were safely out of earshot. Jax simply raised is hands and shook his head with a sigh of frustration.

“I honestly don’t know,” he replied, she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is it going to be safe for you to go back to your room?” She questioned and he nodded.

“Yup,” He assured her,

“They kind of remind me of an old married couple,” Jackie mused and Jax had to smirk at that, because they really do.

 

* * *

 

 

The funeral was the next morning.

The entire team went, regardless of the fact that it meant facing some people whom they had already said goodbye to. It was a small funeral, just people who had been friends with Jackie’s parents and a couple of her friends from high school who hadn’t gone too far from town.

“How you holding up kid?” Ben asked, approaching Jackie and wrapping her in a hug.

“I’m alright,” She assured him as she pulled away, “Um listen Ben, I hate to leave you with no help in the garage but-” She began to say but he silenced her by holding up his hand.

“Don’t worry about it kid, I’d get out of this town too if I were you.” He assured her and she thanked him with a grateful smile.

“Thank you,” She said,

“You know where you’re going?” He asked and she drew a breath,

“I’m actually going with Jax.” She said and although Ben did seem surprised by this he also seemed happy about it.

“Jax,” he called, getting the attention of the younger man who was standing not so far away and talking with his sister.

“Yeah?” He asked, heading over and joining the two.

Ben smiled for a minute before placing his hand on his shoulder in a firm but friendly grip.

“Take care of her,” he instructed and Jax nodded; suddenly realizing that without her father, Ben was the closest thing to the roll that Jackie has.

“Yes sir,” he agreed readily, they all knew he was going to keep Jackie safe, just like they all know that she doesn’t need him to.

Meanwhile, not far from where Jax and most of the others were, Stein had found Ingrid lingering in the crowd.

“You going to talk to her?” Sara asked, coming up to stand beside him.

“And say what?” He questioned, now turning to look her in the eye. “I haven’t spoken to her this entire extra week that we’ve stayed,” He said in a slightly nervous voice, ok maybe more than slightly.

“Jackie’s parents died, she understands why we’re still here.” She assured him but he still looked as though he wasn’t going to be moving any time soon, so Sara took it upon herself to go and say hello to the older woman.

Stein watched, briefly considering yanking her back but ultimately deciding not to, as Sara made her way over to where Ingrid was standing with Haley and started talking to her. He had to admit that his friend did seem rather happy to see Sara, giving her a hug and engaging her in conversation. He was just about to walk away when his ‘daughter’ motioned for him to come over and so, with a deep breath, he did.

“Hello Ingrid,” he greeted his friend politely

“Martin, I’m so glad you were able to make it.” She said, her voice completely void of the hostility he’d feared she would hold towards him. In fact she even gave him a hug, Sara watching smugly as she did.

“Well we couldn’t leave poor Jackie in the midst of all this,” he said as he released his friend, she was about to respond when Haley began pulling on her dress.

“Grandma, I gotta go potty!” She whined, Ingrid looking down at her in almost surprise and was about to excuse the two of them before Sara cut in with a smile.

“I’ll take her,” she offered, grabbing Haley by the hand and leading her away towards the restrooms.

“You have a good daughter there Martin,” Ingrid said once the girls were gone. Stein couldn’t help himself from smiling with just a bit of pride, because although Sara may not be his daughter he does feel that he’s grown rather fond of her.

“Thank you,” he said, “Please excuse me if I’m being rude, but I didn’t realize that you knew the Durand’s.” He said and Ingrid shook her head,

“Not very well,” she admitted, “Although Claire would sometimes come into the store.” She recalled, referring to Jackie’s mother. “I came here with Madison, she and Jackie went to school together and she felt she should pay her respects.” She explained, directing Stein’s attention over to where Haley’s mother was currently talking to Jackie, both girls looking to be only moments away from tears.

“Do me a favor Martin, and tell Kendra how grateful we all are that she was able to get through to Rebecca.” Ingrid requested before continuing to explain herself. “When Madison first found out she was pregnant, she was so scared. It had been a one-time thing with a boy, and when he found out he blamed her. They never spoke again; she didn’t want him in Haley’s life if he was going to be like that. But then when Rebecca kicked her out…” Ingrid trailed off, looking as though she were about to cry herself. “Oh, I just remember when she came to my house; soaked by the rain and her eyes so vacant and scared, I was starting to think that face had permanently become a part of her. But then Rebecca agreed to give her a second chance, and now she’s starting to come out of that survival mindset she’s been in.” She said and Stein smiled proudly again, this time proud of Kendra.

“I will,” he promised, and he would, because he’s seen a scared young woman learn to live again and he knows just how important it is.

* * *

 

 

Two hours later the funeral was over, and almost everyone had left, except for Jackie. She was kneeling in front of her parent’s graves, they were side by side and so she positioned herself in front of the center. She had cried every night since they died, the first by far having been the worst. But today was the first time she had allowed herself to cry during the daylight.

“I know you were always scared that if something bad ever happened I would go running back to Trevor,” she said to the tombstones before a smile crossed her face, “But I’m not, though I’m sure you wouldn’t think traveling through time to defeat a warlord is much better.” She admitted, “Look just… just don’t worry. I’ll be ok, I promise.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Alright, are we all set to go?” Rip asked eagerly when they were all gathered in the bridge that evening.

“Everyone’s on board,” Kendra confirmed,

“And she means everyone,” Jax clarified as he and Jackie entered the room, Rip nodded.

“Good because I’ve been waiting five months to say this, strap yourselves in.” He instructed and obediently the team took their seats.

Jax had warned Jackie about the unpleasantness of time travel already, and now as she took the seat next to him he noticed that she looked very nervous.

“Nervous?” He asked, pulling down his restraints while she was already gripping tightly to hers. She gave a barely detectable nod as an answer. “Do you want to get off?” He asked but this time she shook her head violently.

“No way,” she replied, so he reached over and grabbed her hand; letting her squeeze his as tightly as she needed.

 

* * *

 

The first time they slept since setting off back on the ship was when they were docked in the temporal zone, apparently Gideon hadn’t had much luck locating Savage during that week she was online in 1987. Sara was lying awake in her bed, still kind of pissed that Ray had dislodged her knife, when her door suddenly slid open to reveal Leonard marching into her room.

“Everything ok?” She asked him, sitting up and noting that just like her he was clad in his pajamas.

“Fine,” he all but snarled as he climbed over her and settled into the right side of her bed. “It’s just that apparently I’m not used to sleeping alone,” he growled and with a laugh Sara lay back down, arranging herself on her side in order to face him.

“Well as happy as I am to help with that, what kind of ideas will it give the others?” She mocked but he wasn’t having it,

“None that they don’t have already, I’m sure.” He said and she smirked.

Taking that as permission to stay, Len shifted to lie on his back and she took that as an invitation to use him as a pillow. She laid her head on his chest and wrapped an arm around him, tangling her bare legs with his covered ones as he slipped an arm around her in order to hold her closer.

“Goodnight Leonard,” She murmured into his chest, choosing to forgo the usual nickname of “Crook.”

“Goodnight Sara,” He mimicked, not even missing a beat.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I put this in the tags but I just want to make it clear; this story is canon through "Night of the Hawk". As in, that was the last canon thing to happen before the team ended up chased by both Savage and Chronos and crashing in 1986. Just want to make sure that's clear as it's the reason why Mick isn't with them.


End file.
